Sunday, the Seattle Marathon will once again circle the city. But this year, the runners, joggers, and walkers won’t be crossing Capitol Hill.

Race organizers are rolling out a new route in 2018 that leans heavily on the Burke Gilman Trail but will no longer include the old course’s path through Capitol Hill via Interlaken.

The changes mean crowds that used to gather on the northern fringes of Capitol Hill to mark mile 22.5 of the race will no longer fill Interlaken with the annual final boost of cheering and enthusiasm.

They come after light rail construction on I-90 eliminated the bridge from the marathon course last year. Organizers responded to feedback about elevation gains and further tweaked the maps with a whole new layout in 2018.

“We’re really excited about the changes, and we think you will be too,” organizers write. “We listened to your feedback about last year’s course, and we worked to make this one more runner (and walker) friendly, with less hills. That’s right. This year’s course is much flatter than last year.”

The result for half marathon runners is a change from a 1,075-foot gain in 2017 to an 807-foot gain on this year’s new course. Marathoners are trading in a whopping 1,468-foot gain for the new, flatter rise of 1,165 feet.

The new plan also come with new start times. Half marathoner will take off at 7:30 AM with the marathon crowd following 30 minutes later. 10,000 are expected to participate.

You can learn more at seattlemarathon.org.

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