St. Jude Marathon is this Saturday!

Overton Park Conservancy is thrilled to welcome the runners of this year’s St. Jude Memphis Marathon to the park once again on Saturday, December 3, 2022. This year, the runners will be doing a double loop through the park, entering at Poplar and Tucker, passing by Overton Park Shell and Rust Hall via Veterans Plaza Drive, and then entering the paved forest trails through the gateway by the golf house. The runners will exit the forest trails onto North Parkway, run down East Parkway and Poplar, and re-enter the park to do the loop again before heading back downtown via North Parkway.

The marathon kicks off at 8:00 AM downtown. Because the Overton Park portion of the race covers roughly miles 14-21, expect the park to be impacted throughout Saturday, especially between 8:30AM and 1:30PM. The only entrances that will be open to vehicles are the Prentiss Place entrance to the zoo and the Overton Park Avenue entrance. Expect full road closures on North Parkway, Morrie Moss Lane, Veterans Plaza Drive, and Golf Drive, with partial closures on East Parkway (southbound right lane) and Poplar Ave. (westbound right lane).

If you plan to be in the park cheering on runners, your best bet is to arrive on foot or by bike. Even if you arrive early and park in a parking lot, remember that exiting the park by vehicle will be difficult until the marathon has concluded. If you do need to exit the area by vehicle, take Poplar Ave. and McLean Blvd. to Madison Ave.

Download the complete marathon route here.

Good luck to all the runners! We can’t wait to welcome you to beautiful Overton Park.