ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Thousands of runners are expected to race through the streets of Allentown on Sunday for the 46th annual St. Luke’s Half Marathon and 5K runs.
That will prompt a rash of road closures in the city for much of Sunday morning.
The half marathon is scheduled to step off at 8:10 a.m. Sunday from William Allen High School.
- The 46th annual St. Luke's Half Marathon is scheduled for Sunday morning
- Streets are expected to close from 8-11:30 a.m. Sunday
- Detours will be posted along the courses and police will direct traffic Sunday, organizers said
The route will take runners west around Cedar Beach Park and then loop back to St. Elmo Street. Runners will go east on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive before turning around just before 3rd Street to head back to the Lehigh Parkway.
The course then takes runners along both sides of the Little Lehigh Creek and back toward William Allen High School. The finish line is at J. Birney Crum Stadium.
The St. Luke’s 5K race will start at 8 a.m. at the high school. That route takes runners west along West Linden Street/Parkway Boulevard before looping back east just after 31st Street to the stadium.
“Every shout of encouragement along the way is welcome.”Leslie Billowitch, race co-director
Race co-director Leslie Billowitch is encouraging residents to line the courses and support runners on Sunday.
About 4,000 runners are expected to participate in the races.
“It’s a remarkable, inspiring sight to see thousands of runners tackling 13.1 miles in the spirit of friendly competitiveness and camaraderie,” Billowitch said in a release.
“Every shout of encouragement along the way is welcome.”
Roads could be wet Sunday morning, with the National Weather Service forecasting a chance of showers before 8 a.m. Things should clear up in time for the races, but rain could return about 2 p.m. Sunday, the National Weather Service said.
St. Luke’s held its first annual race in 1977, with fewer than 300 runners competing in a full marathon that looped between Trexlertown and Breinigsville. The race was cut in half in 1984, and it moved to Allentown in 1987.
The St. Luke’s 5K race was launched in 2002 and the children’s run started two years later. A Family Fun walk was added in 2009.
Sunday street closures
Allentown police are set to block off a number of city roads Sunday morning during the races. Most roads will be closed to traffic from 8-11:30 a.m., though some streets will see rolling closures.
Martin Luther King Jr. Drive will close between St. Elmo Street and 3rd Street, while roads that intersect with the boulevard also will close, according to organizers.
Linden Street/Parkway Boulevard will close from 17th Street to Ott Street for most of Sunday morning, while Parkway Boulevard is expected to be closed between Ott Street and Cedar Crest Boulevard from 8-8:40 a.m. for the 5K race.
Parts of Ott, Hamilton, Union, Walnut and St. Elmo streets also will be closed Sunday morning, as well as parts of Yocco Drive, Reading Road and Lehigh Parkway.
Detours will be posted along the courses and police will direct traffic Sunday, organizers said.
Reasons for running
Michelle Benner, of Bethlehem, said she’s running Sunday because the St. Luke’s Half Marathon “literally saved [my] life.”
Benner said she was diagnosed with rectal cancer just days after running her first St. Luke’s half-marathon race five years ago.
“I would have definitely been Stage IV had I not run this race,” she wrote. “This is my FU cancer run!”
Jayna Gougler, of Langhorne, said she is running the 5K race to “thank St. Luke’s for all they have done” for her family. Gougler said St. Luke’s cardiovascular team “did such a wonderful job” comforting her grandfather, who died in November 2021 after being diagnosed with heart failure.
Cathy Hertzog Nelson said she’s completed the St. Luke’s Half Marathon course before. But after losing more than 100 pounds since January 2020, she said she’s excited to run it for the first time.
“It’s so exhilarating to be participating as a runner this year!” Hertzog Nelson wrote.
