Cowtown Marathon

The Cowtown Marathon is Fort Worth's largest multi-event road race and one of Texas's most historic marathons, founded in 1979 by the University of North Texas Health Science Center with an original 10K and full marathon. Now in its 48th year, the two-day "Cowtown Race Weekend" has grown into the largest multi-event race in North Texas, drawing runners from across the country every last weekend of February. Branded "Where the West is RUN," the full marathon starts and finishes at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth's Cultural District and winds through the historic Fort Worth Stockyards (home of the Fort Worth Herd cattle drive), downtown Fort Worth, the Texas Christian University (TCU) campus, and the city's southside, with rolling hills totaling roughly 250 meters of elevation gain. The race is a Boston Marathon qualifier with a 7.5-hour course time limit, live band entertainment along the course, aid stations roughly every 1.5 miles, and a post-race after-party. Proceeds support the Cowtown C.A.L.F. (Children's Activities for Life & Fitness) Program, which has provided over 65,000 pairs of running shoes to North Texas youth. The full weekend also offers an Ultra Marathon (presented by Miller Lite), Half Marathon, 10K, Adults 5K, and Kids 5K (presented by PNC Bank), plus satellite events throughout the year.