Overview The Irving Oktoberfest Half Marathon is the October race of the Irving Marathon Running Series, a half marathon, 10K and 5K through Las Colinas that the series calls one of the fastest and flattest courses in Texas, finishing into a post-race party at the Toyota Music Factory with live music and beer for runners 21 and over. All three distances start from The Plaza on a Saturday morning. Proceeds go to the Irving Schools Foundation for scholarships to Irving ISD students who volunteer on the course. On site The half goes at 7:30, the 10K at 7:45 and the 5K at 7:55. The half runs through the Las Colinas Urban Center and out along the Campion Trail; the 10K and 5K circle Lake Carolyn and Las Colinas Boulevard past the water features and the urban center. The course closes at 11. The rules are strict: nobody enters the corrals or the course without a bib facing forward, and anyone who misses an assigned start is disqualified. Every finisher gets a custom medal, a gender-specific shirt and free professional photos, and the top three in the half win cash. Audience Age-group medals run in 16 divisions for each gender, and teams compete for three trophies: fastest, most participation and best dressed. The half allows three and a half hours, so walkers finish inside the limit, and they start in the final wave with runners who bring dogs. Track record Lazaro Alvarez and Ronnie Chesko founded the Irving Marathon in 2012, and Alvarez widened it into a year-round series in 2019; the Oktoberfest half is one of the six races on its calendar. Every race in the series funds a $1,000 scholarship for an Irving ISD student volunteer. Brand presence Eleven days before a recent race the series ran a Tuesday-evening social run from The Plaza, a non-competitive loop of about 5K around the Lake Carolyn Promenade with live entertainment, race-entry raffles and a HOKA shoe demo on site. The beer at the finish party is sold as its own sponsor position, as is the food runners collect with their coupons. Series sponsors also take expo booths at packet pickup the day before, water stations, medal ribbons, packet inserts and PA announcements, and top levels add race entries and logos on shirts and race bags.