14 Oregon Half Marathons You'll Love Running
From Astoria to Eugene to Portland, and from Sauvie Island to the Columbia River Gorge to the Three Sisters Wilderness, road and trail races updated for 2025 + 2026
Corvallis Half Marathon
Corvallis, Ore. | Saturday, April 5, 2025
Surrounded by the peaks of the Coast and Cascade mountain ranges, this small city nestled in Oregon’s Willamette Valley plays host to a springtime half that starts and finishes on the Oregon State University campus. From there, you’ll make your way through the OSU Historic District and through downtown, and later run on the trails inside the 284-acre Bald Hill Natural Area, along paths that pass through a number of wooded areas and wide-open prairies, and where plentiful wildflowers bloom in the spring. A highlight of the course is the run through the Irish Bend Covered Bridge on the OSU campus, which sits beside a beautiful stream and makes for the perfect race photo.
Eugene Marathon + Half Marathon
Eugene, Ore. | Sunday, April 26, 2026
A trek through Oregon’s “Emerald City,” where you’ll get to run through, around and past several of the city’s urban parks, the campus of the University of Oregon and across the Willamette River, which winds its way through the heart of the city. During the race, you’ll also run along the western edge of Amazon Park, whose 90 acres feature running and walking trails along Amazon Creek as well as softball fields, open greenspace and restored wetlands, and later into Alton Baker Park, which is perhaps the most scenic section of the race, as the beauty of the park’s roughly 400 acres are on display, with plenty of ponds, big green lawns and walking and running trails. (For what it’s worth, Runner’s World says it’s one of the best marathons in the world.)
Run on the River Half Marathon
Astoria, Ore. | Saturday, May 10, 2025
Trek along Astoria’s “yellow brick road,” a paved trail built on the old Burlington Northern Railroad that once clattered along the tracks here on the banks of the Columbia River, where the river empties into the Pacific. Most of the out-and-back route features gorgeous views of the river, which separates Oregon from Washington just to the north, and even today you can see signs of the old tracks, especially when you run the stretch of the race on wooden surfaces where the tracks once lay. The course stays open for 4 hours, 30 minutes, so you’ll have plenty of time to finish whether you’re running or walking.
Cottage Grove Half Marathon
Cottage Grove, Ore. | Sunday, May 17, 2026
Unfolding along the scenic, wooded Row River Trail — a 16-mile-long paved trail that once was the route for the abandoned Oregon Pacific & Eastern Railroad — this point-to-point race begins at a local park and ends in the small city of Cottage Grove, which lies about a half-hour’s drive south of Eugene. A simply beautiful (and overall downhill) run shaded by trees for much of the way, the course passes along the shoreline of Dorena Lake for most of the first half of the race, and the finishes in downtown Cottage Grove.
Stumptown Trail Runs
Portland, Ore. | Saturday, May 23 + Monday, May 26, 2026
You’ll get to run some of the 80 miles of trails that wind through Portland, Oregon’s Forest Park, a 5,200-acre urban wilderness that connects the city with the nearby Pacific Coast Range, at this race, which is the city’s only one with the 50-kilometer distance. The half marathon runs many of the same trails as the 50K — it’s “a challenging trail race that serves up all the shades of green and a good amount of hills” — with some 1,800 feet of elevation gain and loss. Even though you’re not far from the city, this a deep-woods experience to remember.
Foot Traffic Flat Half Marathon
Sauvie Island, Ore. | July 4, 2026
You’ll run through the wilderness of Sauvie Island, a 12,000-acre island just to the northwest of Portland that’s also a seasonal home to thousands of migratory waterfowl and a popular area for hiking, biking, fishing, hunting and bird watching. Starting from the Pumpkin Patch farm on the island, you’ll follow a clockwise loop around the island, down Gillihan Road and up Sauvie Island Road. Along the way, expect to see local wildlife ranging from cows and songbirds to the bald eagles that commonly fly through the island’s skies, and to see Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens off in the distance if conditions are clear enough.
Mount Hood Trail Runs
Clackamas Lake, Ore. | Sunday, July 12, 2026
Run on the heavily-shaded Pacific Crest Trail — made famous for most of us in Cheryl Strayed’s 2012 bestseller Wild — in the shadow of nearby Mount Hood, this race is considered an ideal run for your first 50-miler, thanks to its pair of out-and-back stretches that split up the run into smaller, more manageable chunks. In addition to the 50-miler, the race also offers the 50K and 25K distances. “It’s also not too much climbing and is nestled in the forests for most of the race,” running coach Yassine Doubin described it to Trail Runner magazine.
Fueled by Fine Wine Half Marathon
Dundee, Ore. | Sunday, July 13, 2025
A run you’ll remember forever among northwest Oregon’s Willamette River Valley, with the majestic peaks of Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson and the Cascades looking down from off in the distance. The out-and-back race starts and finishes Dundee Billick Park, and from there features plenty of up-and-down stretches through the hills of the vineyards surrounding Dundee and nearby Dayton and Newberg. Organizers say to bring your off-road shoes to this run, as plenty of it will be run on dirt rather than paved roads: “It is a VERY challenging race with LOTS of up and down and lots of gravel, dirt and grass in addition to country roads.”
Bridge of the Gods Half Marathon
Cascade Locks, Ore. | Sunday, August 2, 2026
A stunningly beautiful run among the Columbia River Gorge along the Oregon-Washington state line, in honor of the namesake bridge. You’ll start the run on the Bridge of the Gods, a massive steel truss cantilever bridge that also serves as a river crossing for a stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail, and from there head onto the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail, today a paved trail for cyclists, hikers and runners along Old Highway 30 that snaked through the mountains here, overlooking the river. You’ll finish the race in Marine Park, where you’ll get to take in a breathtaking view from a distance of the bridge where you began the race.
Three Sisters Skyline Half Marathon
Sisters, Ore. | Saturday, September 20, 2025
Run along the trails at the edge of the Three Sisters Wilderness, where you’ll get to take in stunning views of the Cascade Range all around. One of Oregon’s most popular hiking and mountain climbing areas, the wilderness is named for the three mountain peaks known to early settlers as Faith, Hope and Charity (and now called the North, Middle and South Sisters, respectively). Each snow-capped peak reaches more than 10,000 feet high, and you’ll get to see them as you run through Ponderosa pine forests that alternate with alpine meadows along single-track trails.
Perpetua Coast Trail Runs
Yachats, Ore. | Saturday, October 4 - Sunday, October 5, 2025
A stunningly gorgeous run along the trails inside Oregon’s Cape Perpetua Scenic Area, whose 2,700 acres are home to more than 20 miles of trails that tower some 800 feet above the Pacific coastline below. The scenic area is in a coastal Oregon village known as Yachats, known for its “cozy beach town charm, rocky shoreline bluffs, sandy beaches, epic headland vistas and moss-draped old growth rainforest,” and named by the native Alsea people, whose history here dates back more than 6,000 years. You’ll be able to choose among a 50K which runs on Saturday and a half marathon and 20-miler, which run on Sunday.
Rogue Gorge Trail Runs
Prospect, Ore. | Saturday, October 18 - Sunday, October 19, 2025
A gorgeous (and challenging) fall run along Oregon’s Rogue Gorge Trail and Upper Rogue River Trail, two trails that wind through the wilderness that surrounds the Rogue National Wild & Scenic River in the Southern Cascades. The place where you’ll run lies just 20 miles away from Crater Lake National Park, where more than 7,000 years ago, a cataclysmic volcanic eruption buried the region in pumice, ash and lava. Today, the river courses through long-since-cooled lava canyons, where numerous waterfalls and lush forests filled with towering old-growth Douglas fir, ponderosa pine and sugar pine trees abound. You’ll get to take all of it in as you run across bridges over streams and through the woods, among the trees.
Columbia Gorge Marathon + Half Marathon
Hood River, Ore. | Sunday, October 19, 2025
A gorgeous, gorgeous run along the banks of Oregon’s Columbia River, with a course that unfolds along the Historic Columbia River Highway, a 75-mile-long road that was built more than 100 years ago specifically to give Oregonians a chance to drive through some of the most beautiful parts of the state in the fall, when the autumn leaves are appearing, and has been called the “King of Roads” and “a poem in stone.” Both the full and the half marathons are out-and-back races, and there’s even a “Dog Leg Half Marathon,” in which you can bring your dog to run with you — and your dog will be chip-timed too.
Happy Girls Sisters Half Marathon
Sisters, Ore. | Saturday, October 25, 2025
Run in the past along the Peterson Ridge Trail, a 20-mile-long hiking trail near the base of the awe-inspiring Three Sisters Mountains in central Oregon, this year’s race will move just a few miles away to FivePine Lodge, where you’ll start and finish at just over 3,100 feet above sea level. From there, you’ll run through the woods of the Deschutes National Forest around the resort, where organizers say there will be “challenging terrain and some climbing in the beginning” — as well as cold temperatures in the early morning. The race’s single-track trails offer “fast, flowy descents and amazing views of the Cascades,” they add. (Whatever “flowy” means!)
