Overview The Asheville Marathon and Half is the only marathon run in Asheville, North Carolina, a USATF-certified Boston qualifier that starts in Pack Square downtown and ends with a party at New Belgium Brewing. The course runs through North Asheville, Montford and the River Arts District, then along the city's greenways past Carrier Park and Hominy Creek Park, on a Saturday in March. iDaph Events, an Asheville-area race company founded in 2011, puts it at the top of a calendar that also includes the Jump Off Rock, RAD and Black Bear half marathons and a run of 5Ks, trail races and relays across Western North Carolina. On site Race weekend opens Friday with an expo, held at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Biltmore Village in 2026, and a shakeout run at New Belgium. In 2026 the start went off at 7:30 a.m. and the course closed at 2 p.m., with course sections reopened after repairs from Hurricane Helene. At the finish New Belgium hosts live music, coffee, food trucks, beer and the awards. The 2026 weekend closed on Sunday with a plogging run, picking up litter along the way. More than 200 volunteers worked the 2026 race, and iDaph gives every participant their race photos free. Audience It is a travel race for most of the field. About a third of runners live within 60 miles of Asheville, and the 2026 field came from 43 states and six countries. iDaph says visitors to its races often ask where to stay and what to do, and it keeps a destination page of local businesses for them. Track record The 2026 race was its 13th, with 2,300 runners registered, and over those years the race has given tens of thousands of dollars to local and regional causes. United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County was the 2026 charity partner. Across all its races iDaph counts more than 12,000 participants and 200,000 unique website visitors a year. Brand presence The presenting partner's name rides on every mention of the race as "presented by," its logo sits beside the race logo on the shirt and finisher medal, and it gets a chance to speak before the start. A finish line partner gets 50 feet of branded finish chute fence on both sides and the verticals of the finish truss; a performance partner's logo goes on the bibs; the photo partner's logo is watermarked on every race photo. The expo and the post-race party can take a sponsor's name, hydration partners brand the water stations and reusable cups, and iDaph's email list runs past 26,000 subscribers.