Novant Health Charlotte Marathon
The Novant Health Charlotte Marathon is a November road marathon in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a loop course that starts and finishes in Uptown Charlotte. The full marathon is the headline race, but the series also includes two other races, and the half marathon usually draws the biggest field. The half uses the first half of the marathon route, so runners who choose the shorter race still get a large piece of the main course. The marathon course is certified and can be used to qualify for Boston, which gives the race a practical pull for runners chasing a standard as well as locals running their city marathon. The race grew out of the gap left when the Charlotte Observer Marathon ended, and it later ran under the name Thunder Road Marathon. That older name came with a NASCAR theme, a clear nod to Charlotte’s strong auto-racing culture. The modern event keeps the city-center loop, with Uptown serving as both the launch point and the finish area. Marathon entries have never reached the stated cap of 3,500, so this is not a giant-field marathon, but it still brings together full marathoners, a larger half-marathon crowd, and runners using the race as a serious qualifying attempt. The course records sit at 2:23:50 for men, held by Adam Jones, and 2:45:04 for women, held by Megan Hepp.
