Bar Harbor Bank & Trust Half Marathon

The MDI YMCA has run this September half for decades, and it earns its identity from Acadia National Park. Nine of the 13.1 miles use the hard-packed carriage roads John D. Rockefeller Jr. built in the early 1900s, which makes it closer to a scenic gravel race than a road half with a park cameo.

The race starts in downtown Bar Harbor, climbs away from the harbor into Acadia, and loops through dense forest on carriage roads before returning to town. Expect real hills, a soft crushed-stone surface for most of the race, and crossings of the park's old granite bridges. An early walker start goes off before the main field.

Mid-September on Mount Desert Island usually brings cool mornings in the 50s, and the forested carriage roads keep much of the course shaded. Coastal fog and damp air are possible, heat rarely is.