2022 University of Michigan Health – West
Grand Rapids Marathon
Foster Swift Half Marathon // Pepsi Marathon Relay
Grand Rapids Kids Marathon
Greetings Friends and Neighbors!
On Sunday, October 16, 2022, we will be running the Nineteeth Annual University of Michigan Health – West Grand Rapids Marathon. The Marathon is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. (with an “early start” option at 6:30 a.m.) at the David D. Hunting (“DDH”) YMCA.
We continue the tradition of providing our runners with a course that shows off our beautiful City, including Grand Rapids’ West Side, from miles one through five. This flier will provide you with information on the parts of the course that may take runners through your neighborhoods.
From the Start Line at the DDH YMCA on Winter Street: Runners will run south on Winter to Fulton Street. They’ll turn right (west) on Fulton to Seward Ave and proceed north on Seward to Leonard Street. They’ll then turn right (east) on Leonard, and continue to Broadway where they will turn right (south). Runners will proceed on Broadway until they reach Sixth Street, where they’ll turn left (east) and cross the Historic Sixth Street Bridge, continuing on to Monroe Avenue. The course then takes runners south (right) on Monroe, and they pass through Downtown Grand Rapids, staying on Monroe until they get to Fulton Street. At Fulton Street runners will turn right (west) and continue on Fulton until they reach Winter Street, where they will turn left (south) on Winter and continue to run south on Winter/Watson/Front Streets to Wealthy Street. They turn right (west) on Wealthy and run about one-half mile until they get to the entrance of Butterworth Park. Once runners have reached Butterworth Park (formerly known as the Butterworth Landfill), most of the remaining course will be run on paved trails. Even on the remaining portions of the course that take runners on main roads (i.e., Butterworth and Maynard), there will be minimal traffic disruption, since the runners will be spread out enough when they reach that point.
We anticipate that the largest group of runners going through an area at one time will occur during the first four miles of the race route–between the time the race starts at 7:30 a.m. from the YMCA, until approximately 8:30 a.m., when most of the runners will have passed through the intersection of Fulton and Winter Streets.
Because runner safety is of utmost importance to us, we have arranged to have some of the streets in the early part of the course either partially coned off or completely closed during the times the runners are expected to go through there. We appreciate your patience during this time, and thank you in advance! Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at donkern1@gmail.com.)
For the Kids Marathon—we’ll be closing Seward Street between Lake Michigan Drive and Bridge Street from 1:30 pm Saturday, October 15 until about 2:10 p.m.
Please watch out for runners as they pass through your area. Or better yet, come on out as a spectator, and cheer them on! Let’s show them what awesome people live here in this great City of ours!!! For more information on our event, go to grandrapidsmarathon.com.
Don Kern
Race Director – 2022 University of Michigan Health – West Grand Rapids Marathon. For the course map: CLICK