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Marathon Details - Fort Smith Marathon

North America Marathons > USA > AR > Fort Smith > Fort Smith Marathon

Fort Smith Marathon

Fort Smith Marathon & Half Marathon, Relay

Fort Smith, AR USA

March 30, 2025

http://www.fortsmithmarathon.org

News

Marathon Results

By Year:

2023 2022 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 Top 3 Finishers

Race Details

historic downtown, beautiful neighborhoods, paved wooded trails, some challenging hills

Contact Information

Name:	Patrick Pendleton
Address:	2305 S. 40th Fort Smith, AR 72903
Phone Number:	479-650-6894
Email:	Email the organizers

Runner Reviews (9)

Course 4.0

Organization 3.8

Spectators 4.0

Write a review

Number of comments: 9

David Weiss from Brookpark, Ohio (5/20/2018) "Burrrrrrr!!!!! It was hilly and cold!" (about: 2018) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Well, I've run 48 marathons and this one takes the crown.... th coldest one I've run, mid-upper 20s and windy at the start, and finish. Before the race I enjoyed Little Rock and seeing the Clinton library and Central High where the school's were integrated. Then enjoyed the nice little western town that Ft. Smith is. Easy packet pickup, very hilly course, which a local runner along the way told me was intentional to show the "grit" of the city, ok course, not terribly exciting, but excellent medal and friendly runners along the way. Nice indoor space to enjoy some pretty good post race food.... did I mention it was freezing?!
R. K. from Washington, USA (2/19/2017) "Surprisingly Enjoyable Small Scale Marathon" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was my Arkansas race for my 50 state quest. This was actually a very hilly course! I enjoyed most of course - beautiful neighborhoods and paved park land trails. The last few miles were less pleasant (highway). Although spectators were few they were very, very supportive. Often they would stand and cheer as you ran by. The park rangers on horses throughout the paved trail portion of the run was fun. Fort Smith was a very cool little city too with a lot of city art and restaurants.
Marvin Glenn from Mena, AR (3/15/2016) "This was my first marathon." (about: 2016) First Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 I am happy to have completed this difficult marathon, but I wonder what happened to my first place in division trophy. I was told that trophies would not be awarded in person as advertised, but would be mailed to winners. Mine has not arrived, a month after the event.
Michael Gregory from Oklahoma (12/15/2015) "A Great Inaugural Effort!" (about: 2015) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 I'm a former resident of Ft. Smith and anticipated a challenging race and I was right. The crowd support, the volunteers, and the efforts of the police dept in ensuring the safety of the runners was fabulous, however, and I will definitely be back.
J. A. from AR (2/20/2015) "Great inaugural race, but tough." (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Well run event for an inaugural. Only two complaints really. 1) Not enough port-a-potties on the course and 2) volunteers need some extra training on how to handle water stops. Not complaining about the volunteers at all. They just weren't ready, especially early in the race, for the demand for water and gatorade by so many runners all at once. I do applaud the organizers for restocking the stations with cups as soon as they realized they were short. The course was beautiful, but the hills were brutal. Again, that's not a complaint because we were warned on the front page of the website. But this is definitely not a course to target for a PR. I'll be back because it's a challenge and it's close to home. Looking forward to next year.
k. p. from Oklahoma (2/12/2015) "Sure as hell took grit" (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I judge a marathon by how I feel at the finish line. I had a huge smile for three reasons: 1. I didn't have to run up or down another hill 2. The scenery was perfect, great views were the reward for getting to the top of the hills 3. Crowd and police support were amazing. I'd run it again, the half that it is.
Amy Meyer from Fort Leonard Wood, MO (2/10/2015) "Great inaugural event!" (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 This was the first year for the Fort Smith Marathon and it will exceeded my expectations. They offered a very nice finisher's medal for all participants (relay, half marathon, and full) and a nice cotton long sleeve white shirt, which I appreciated (have too many tech shirts as it is, lol). The community really went all out for this race, there was a lot of community support and traffic control was pretty top notch. I would have to note that this course was very very tough. Very hilly (almost 1000 ft elevation gain according to my Garmin). To put it in perspective, the overall female winner finished in 3:32, when she normally runs a 3:00-3:15 marathon. My only complaints was with the organization. My friend picked up my running packet the day prior and when he had a few questions about the course/start line, no one seemed to know what was going on. The race also started about 10 mins late. Lastly, for the awards ceremony, nobody seemed to know what was going on, when it was going to happen, etc. Also, the race started at 9, which I would assume because it was because of possible cold weather? I would suggest to have an 8 or 8:30 start time to allow people (especially those who've traveled from out of town) the ability to go back to shower at their hotels before their required check out time. Other than those minor complaints, I would highly recommend this race!
G. H. from Memphis TN (2/9/2015) "Good Inaugural Marathon" (about: 2015) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 For an inaugural marathon, it was well organized and managed. Course was tough, with lots of hills, but as described, so not whining. Weather was warmer than expected, but again, can't control that. Organization was good, course very well marked (looked like thousands of brand new cones), excellent traffic control (thank you US Army and Police and Sheriff Depts and other volunteers), plenty of water and aid stops, but did run out of gatorade and cups at some stops. I trust next year the director will have better idea of how to plan better and fix the areas that were less than 5 stars. Awesome medals!
Dustin Bordelon from Kansas (2/9/2015) "Great, but tough inaugural race" (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 For an inaugural race the logistics were very well organized. The course was very hilly and is sure to challenge the greatest of runners. Chance of a PR <1%. The only issue was PR (public relations) must have advised on the wrong time. The local news, radio, and Facebook all had a start time of 0800 when the actual race was at 0900.



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David Weiss from Brookpark, Ohio (5/20/2018) "Burrrrrrr!!!!! It was hilly and cold!" (about: 2018) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Well, I've run 48 marathons and this one takes the crown.... th coldest one I've run, mid-upper 20s and windy at the start, and finish. Before the race I enjoyed Little Rock and seeing the Clinton library and Central High where the school's were integrated. Then enjoyed the nice little western town that Ft. Smith is. Easy packet pickup, very hilly course, which a local runner along the way told me was intentional to show the "grit" of the city, ok course, not terribly exciting, but excellent medal and friendly runners along the way. Nice indoor space to enjoy some pretty good post race food.... did I mention it was freezing?!
R. K. from Washington, USA (2/19/2017) "Surprisingly Enjoyable Small Scale Marathon" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was my Arkansas race for my 50 state quest. This was actually a very hilly course! I enjoyed most of course - beautiful neighborhoods and paved park land trails. The last few miles were less pleasant (highway). Although spectators were few they were very, very supportive. Often they would stand and cheer as you ran by. The park rangers on horses throughout the paved trail portion of the run was fun. Fort Smith was a very cool little city too with a lot of city art and restaurants.
Marvin Glenn from Mena, AR (3/15/2016) "This was my first marathon." (about: 2016) First Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 I am happy to have completed this difficult marathon, but I wonder what happened to my first place in division trophy. I was told that trophies would not be awarded in person as advertised, but would be mailed to winners. Mine has not arrived, a month after the event.
Michael Gregory from Oklahoma (12/15/2015) "A Great Inaugural Effort!" (about: 2015) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 I'm a former resident of Ft. Smith and anticipated a challenging race and I was right. The crowd support, the volunteers, and the efforts of the police dept in ensuring the safety of the runners was fabulous, however, and I will definitely be back.
J. A. from AR (2/20/2015) "Great inaugural race, but tough." (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Well run event for an inaugural. Only two complaints really. 1) Not enough port-a-potties on the course and 2) volunteers need some extra training on how to handle water stops. Not complaining about the volunteers at all. They just weren't ready, especially early in the race, for the demand for water and gatorade by so many runners all at once. I do applaud the organizers for restocking the stations with cups as soon as they realized they were short. The course was beautiful, but the hills were brutal. Again, that's not a complaint because we were warned on the front page of the website. But this is definitely not a course to target for a PR. I'll be back because it's a challenge and it's close to home. Looking forward to next year.
k. p. from Oklahoma (2/12/2015) "Sure as hell took grit" (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I judge a marathon by how I feel at the finish line. I had a huge smile for three reasons: 1. I didn't have to run up or down another hill 2. The scenery was perfect, great views were the reward for getting to the top of the hills 3. Crowd and police support were amazing. I'd run it again, the half that it is.
Amy Meyer from Fort Leonard Wood, MO (2/10/2015) "Great inaugural event!" (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 This was the first year for the Fort Smith Marathon and it will exceeded my expectations. They offered a very nice finisher's medal for all participants (relay, half marathon, and full) and a nice cotton long sleeve white shirt, which I appreciated (have too many tech shirts as it is, lol). The community really went all out for this race, there was a lot of community support and traffic control was pretty top notch. I would have to note that this course was very very tough. Very hilly (almost 1000 ft elevation gain according to my Garmin). To put it in perspective, the overall female winner finished in 3:32, when she normally runs a 3:00-3:15 marathon. My only complaints was with the organization. My friend picked up my running packet the day prior and when he had a few questions about the course/start line, no one seemed to know what was going on. The race also started about 10 mins late. Lastly, for the awards ceremony, nobody seemed to know what was going on, when it was going to happen, etc. Also, the race started at 9, which I would assume because it was because of possible cold weather? I would suggest to have an 8 or 8:30 start time to allow people (especially those who've traveled from out of town) the ability to go back to shower at their hotels before their required check out time. Other than those minor complaints, I would highly recommend this race!
G. H. from Memphis TN (2/9/2015) "Good Inaugural Marathon" (about: 2015) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 For an inaugural marathon, it was well organized and managed. Course was tough, with lots of hills, but as described, so not whining. Weather was warmer than expected, but again, can't control that. Organization was good, course very well marked (looked like thousands of brand new cones), excellent traffic control (thank you US Army and Police and Sheriff Depts and other volunteers), plenty of water and aid stops, but did run out of gatorade and cups at some stops. I trust next year the director will have better idea of how to plan better and fix the areas that were less than 5 stars. Awesome medals!
Dustin Bordelon from Kansas (2/9/2015) "Great, but tough inaugural race" (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Fort Smith Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 For an inaugural race the logistics were very well organized. The course was very hilly and is sure to challenge the greatest of runners. Chance of a PR <1%. The only issue was PR (public relations) must have advised on the wrong time. The local news, radio, and Facebook all had a start time of 0800 when the actual race was at 0900.

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Marathon Details - Fort Smith Marathon