The southern Utah region known as “Color Country” is the setting for the annual late winter running of Washington’s Washington City Half Marathon & 5K (formerly Dogtown Half Marathon until 2019), which unfolds along paved roads and dirt trails through an area known for both its brilliant blue skies and the red rock formations made famous in photos of its national parks, as well as its mild winter climate.
Designed as a fundraiser for Washington’s Homeless Animal Rescue Team as well as its public safety department, the race’s proceeds will be used to provide shelter to homeless dogs, cats and other animals in the local area, and will be used to help the local police department purchase a dog for use in police work.
The course for the 13.1-mile half marathon race follows a point-to-point route that starts along Foothills Canyon Drive in the neighborhood known as Coral Canyon, a roughly 2,600-acre planned community that’s home to a golf course, a number of parks and outdoor green spaces, churches, restaurants, retail and office space in addition to its residential communities.
Runners remain on Coral Canyon Boulevard until they pass the mile 2 marker, where they turn left for a very brief stretch along Telegraph Street and then turn right onto Landfill Road.
The stretch along Landfill lasts for roughly half a mile before turning runners out onto the trails that take them into the Hell’s Canyon area, which they’ll remain on for about the next three and a half miles.
The stretch along the trails is mostly downhill for the first two miles until runners reach the mile 5 marker, where the trail then rises uphill again.
Once runners pass the mile 6 marker, it’s back onto the paved roads once again, as the race route heads onto Washington Dam Road and runners begin the second half of the race, turning left two miles later onto Washington Fields Road.
The route follows a few more turns as runners make their way along the final few miles, with some rolling hills but overall a downhill slope in toward the finish line next to the Staheli Family Farm in the area of the city known as Washington Fields.
