Getting In · Iconic road race
Broad Street Run
One street. Ten miles. Forty thousand Philadelphians. Broad Street is the rare huge race that is also legitimately fast, and the rare fast race that feels like a block party the whole way down.
- Distance
- 10 milesStraight, and net downhill
- Field
- ~40,000Largest 10 miler in the US
- Course
- Broad Street, end to end
- Lottery
- Winter, for early May
- Net drop
- ~110 ft
- Best door
- Lottery, then charity
Broad Street runs from Central High School in North Philly straight down Broad Street to the Navy Yard. There are essentially no turns. It is net downhill. And because it goes through every kind of Philadelphia neighborhood in sequence, the character of the crowd changes every mile: gospel choirs, DJs on stoops, City Hall arriving at halfway, and then the long straight run into South Philly.
It's also a genuinely good racing distance. Ten miles is long enough to be a real test and short enough that you can go hard, and the downhill grade means a lot of people run their best-ever pace here.
How to get in
- LotteryThe lottery
Registration is a lottery, typically opening in the winter for the early-May race. Tens of thousands apply for a field of around 40,000, so odds are much better than a major marathon but by no means guaranteed.
- CharityCharity entries
A large charity program with a strong local presence, especially cancer and children's hospital causes. This is the standard fallback and it works.
- Volunteer / serviceVolunteer and club routes
Local running clubs and volunteer programs have their own allocations. If you are in Philadelphia, ask around before you rely on the lottery.
Questions runners actually ask
Is Broad Street a good PR course?
Yes. It is essentially straight, net downhill by roughly 110 feet, and run in early May when Philadelphia is usually cool. Many runners set 10-mile bests here.
How do I get in if the lottery misses?
Charity partners hold a substantial number of bibs and are the standard fallback.
Go to the source
Entry rules, dates, standards, fees, and odds change every single year, and the interesting races change them the most. Use this guide to build the plan; use the official site to confirm the details before you book anything.
If this is your kind of thing
Need the races in between? The hard part of a bucket list year is everything else on the calendar: the qualifier, the tune-up, the long run with a bib on.