Worcester half marathon planned for 2027 return
The United Way of Central Massachusetts is working to host a Worcester half marathon race next year, 10 years after the last half marathon was held in the city.
“We want it to be an economic driver for the community,” said Christy Kosak, manager of corporate and institutional partnerships for United Way. “We are looking to create a signature event to attract people to Worcester.”
The planned event still needs approval from the United Way board, which is expected in May. After that, the Worcester-based nonprofit must finalize a race date in late March or early April 2027, Kosak said.
The race is expected to start and end at the Polar Park baseball stadium, so organizers will work with the Worcester Red Sox to pick a date that works around the team’s 2027 schedule. That decision is expected in September, after which the United Way will begin marketing the race in earnest.
Preliminarily, Kosak expects about 2,500 runners to register for the inaugural 2027 race. That estimate is slightly under the 2,600 who participated in March at Worcester’s The Guinness Celtic 5K.
The half marathon is expected to draw overnight visitors, and United Way aims to build momentum in its first year to make it an annual event, Kosak said. The TTP Cambridge Half Marathon draws about 5,000 runners annually, and the Boston Athletic Association Half Marathon draws 9,000.
The budget for the Worcester half marathon is $40,000-$50,000, and United Way plans to cover that cost with sponsorships, registrations, and peer-to-peer fundraising, similar to how runners fundraise for the Boston Marathon. The race will require a lot of volunteers, said Lynn Cheney, vice president for communications at United Way.
The last half marathon held in the city was the Worcester Running Festival in 2017. The event stopped after that year due to a lack of sponsorship, according to its Facebook page.
The new Worcester half marathon doesn’t have a name yet. The name “Worcester Half Marathon” is already copyrighted, Kosak said, so United Way will consider something different.
“We don’t want to do it just to do it,” she said. “We want an annual event that will continue to build excitement each year.”
By: Brad Kane, Worcester Business Journal