5-Person Marathon Relay • 26.2
6:30am Sunday, April 25, 2027
Relay Leg Distances — 3.1 Miles • 5.2 Miles • 6.8 Miles • 5.8 Miles • 5.5 Miles
A team of five runners will complete the entire marathon distance. Each runner will run one leg of varying distance handing off a runners belt containing your scoring chip to the next team member at each relay exchange zone.
Distances for relay legs one through five are approximated based on handoff location (front vs. back of exchange zones).
Official Team Categories
* All team members must meet the age criteria to be entered in the Masters Division.
Corporate: Any combination from one corporation
School: Any combination from one school
Family: Any combination from one family (family or relatives)
All Male: All males
All Female: All females
Mixed: Any combination (must have at least 2 female members)
Course Open: 6.5 Hours *Time Limit Strictly Enforced by Local Police — SAG vehicles will be present should you be unable to meet cutoff times. There are two checkpoints along the course; mile 8 and mile 16. You must maintain approximately a 14:52 pace to complete within the 6.5 hour time limit. You’ll need to be at mile 10 by 9:12am and mile 15 by 11:37am. You will not be allowed to continue if you do not make the checkpoints in time, SAG vehicles will travel at the course closing pace and will pick up runners along the route and at aid stations, who choose to discontinue the race or fall behind pace (under none medical circumstances).
This is a 5-Person Relay. All five spots must be registered to participate.
NOTE: All five spots on your team must be registered prior to packet pickup in order to receive any team BIBs. BIBs are required to run the race. If someone drops out last minute, consider shifting the legs to have anyone run multiple consecutive legs. Also consider asking someone already registered for the half or full marathon to register for the relay and run one of the legs for your team. If expo day arrives and you're still not able to field a full team, consider transferring to another event if spots remain. Online transfer period ends April 19th.
The full course is not the same as the marathon course. Exchange zones will be marked with flags and cones.
The North Star BlueScope 5-Person Marathon Relay course will begin on Bancroft St. on the University of Toledo campus. It will circle campus before heading West into beautiful Ottawa Hills. Heading north into the quiet neighborhoods of Old Orchard and Ottawa Hills, the course leads you to the area’s finest Metroparks system utilizing the University Parks bike Trail. A tour through Sylvania leads you back to Wildwood Metropark and down the bike trail to a short tour of the UT campus concluding with the finish inside the Glass Bowl.
Numbers and Chip Timing
All team members are required to wear a race number visible on their front. Your chip timing device will be attached to a runner belt. Only ONE runner belt will be provided to each team. Each runner belt must be turned in at the finish line.
Exchange Points
Relay Exchange Zones will be marked with cones and flags. Hand-offs must occur within the marked zones. Exchange points #1 and #2 can get very congested. Please be courteous to your fellow runners and make every attempt to keep the exchange zones and marathon course clear.
Put your team of five together and get ready to take on the full 26.2 mile course together. Each member of the team will run one of the legs, while the other four travel from exchange point to exchange point. Our shuttle will take the stress out of getting around the road closures and traffic delays by delivering you within a short distance from where you’ll be meeting your runner on the course. Teams receive one timing chip that they’ll handoff within the designated relay zone to the subsequent member heading out for the next leg of the race. The atmosphere provides everyone with a little taste of the full marathon route, and allows everyone to show off team spirit and cheering skills. Marathoners and half marathoners can even join a team and double up on their Sunday swag. Half marathoners can run the 13.1 mile race and either of the first two legs of relay, while marathoner can also run any leg of the relay in conjunction with their 26.2 mile journey. Most runners who double up choose to take on leg one from the start line, but you can decide for yourselves.