11th Annual Tear Drop Half Marathon, 10K & 5K

Lace up your sneakers, lean forward and get ready for the 11th Annual Tear Drop Half Marathon! If you’re looking for a fast and scenic half marathon then join us on Sunday, April 27, 2025!

All distances will start on top of Fort Mountain at an elevation near 3000 feet and finish in Chatsworth, Georgia, for an over 2000-foot drop for the Half Marathon. All courses (13.1, 10K, 5K) are USAT&F certified for those participants that are looking to set a personal record or for a qualifying time at a race elsewhere. Chatsworth is 80 miles from Atlanta, 40 miles from Chattanooga and 10 miles from Dalton.

The racecourses are on all paved roads and features 7 miles of 5-10% grade downhill for the 13.1, 5 miles downhill for the 10K and 2 miles for the 5K (which will improve your time :40- 1:20 per mile!) and then a flat to rolling finish. Again, this year the Half Marathon will run an out and back on top of the mountain, which runners will encounter several climbs (it's not all downhill). The scenic route through the Cohutta Wilderness Area and finishes at beautiful City Park in Chatsworth welcomes racers of all abilities.

In addition to the half marathon 10K & 5K, there will be plenty of extras for the runners! Beautiful CUSTOM medals for all event finishers and every participant will receive a short sleeve t-shirt, in addition to live music, post-race hot food, cold drinks; beer for 21 and over participants! There will also be great raffle prizes for all participants!

Please note: 7:30 am start time for the Half, 7:50am for 10K, 8:05am for the 5K.

PARKING at FINISH (private shuttles to the start)

RUNNERS PARK AT THE FINISH AND ARE SHUTTLED TO THEIR SPECIFIC RACE START LOCATION ON TOP FT. MTN! FINISH- City Park- 401 N. 2nd Ave Chatsworth GA 30705. Parking around the park and adjacent business parking lots. There are beautiful permanent bathrooms behind the stage at City Park and a new building with additional bathrooms has been added too! Half runners can get dropped off at their start on Ft. Mnt but your ride can't park at the Inn and can’t head westbound down Hwy 52 after 7:25am. Sorry no personal vehicle drop off at the start for 10K and 5K, you must use bus service.

RACE START

Half marathon starts 7:30am a top Fort Mountain (Overlook Inn 9440 Hwy 52, Chatsworth). The 10K and 5K start at lower points on Ga Hwy 52, which runners will be shuttled to also.

BIB TSHIRT PICK-UP/REGISTRATION

At City Park Pavilion: Saturday, 4/27 from 2pm until 5pm. We will also allow for race registration/sign-up, race (distance) transfer and bib/t-shirt pick-up, Sunday 4/28 of the race from 6:00:am-7:00am for the Half and 7-8am for the 10K/5K. Let your friends know that they can still register in person if online has closed. We have enough medals and shirts for all!

Note: Saturday Dinner options in Chatsworth (for out of towners). TBD

Courtyard Dalton may still have a few rooms left at the $149 TDH rate. Call to reserve. 

SHUTTLE BUS

We’ll have buses making multiple round trips from City Park to Ft. Mnt starting at 6:00am. From the finish to the start for the Half is about 20-25 minute bus ride to the top of Fort Mountain, the race starts at a scenic overlook across from the Overlook Inn. Portable bathroom rooms will be across the street near the start and at 10K and 5K starts too. If you want to warm-up before the race use caution running on the roads. Currently we have 180 registered for the Half and each bus holds 35-45 riders so we need a system. We've chosen to go by alphabetical, there’s more of a chance family members with same name will want to ride together. We won’t “ID” you but we do ask you to adhere to your bus schedule as much as you can for the sake of everyone. PLEASE NOTE THE LAST BUS TIME FOR YOUR EVENT. IF YOU MISS LAST BUS YOU WILL HAVE TO DO NEXT SHORTER DISTANCE (unless you're signed up for 5K, in that case you're SOL). DON'T BE LATE!

Half Marathon (180): Loading time for each bus (10mins to load before it departs) Bus-1 A-D (Last Name) 6:00am, Bus-2  E-K 6:015am, Bus-3 L-P 6:30am, Bus-4 R-Z 6:45am, Bus-5 (late arrivals/way out of area drivers 70+ miles) 7:00am. 1st 2 or so bus loads will see beautiful sunrise and Tim from TrueSpeed Photos will be up there to take personal and group photos. 

10K (125): Bus-1 A-L 7:10am, Bus-2 M-Z 7:20am Bus-3 (late arrivals/out of area drivers) 7:25am 

5K (105) Bus-1 A-L 7:40am, Bus-2 M-Z 7:45am Bus-3 (late arrivals/out of area drivers) 7:50am 

HWY 52

This is a state highway and does have a few driveways and the Fort Mountain State Park entrance. Runners will have access to 1 lane (westbound direction of traffic) and must stay to right side of the cones. There may be oncoming traffic so please don’t go outside (left side) of the cones! Cars are not allowed to travel in the running lane but may “sneak” in so you may have to move to shoulder for them to pass. There will be Murray County Sheriff at several locations to stop and turn around any unauthorized vehicles traveling in our permitted lane of traffic. We’ve done our diligence to alert local residence of our permitted road race and hopefully they’ve planned accordingly.

SAG VEHICLE

We’ll have a passenger vehicle following the last runner in case anyone needs to drop out or needs medical attention. We need to keep pace on Hwy 52 (the downhill portion) and if a runner is going too slow (13:00/mile) we may ask for you to ride in SAG. However, once in the city of Chatsworth (flat, rolling hills) if a runner falls off pace we may ask that they move onto the sidewalk but still be allowed to finish the race. Our GDOT road permit on Hwy 52 is only allowed for 3 hours. 

WATER STOPS & BATHROOMS

Each distance will have bathrooms at their start area! There will be 4 water stations for the Half and 2 for the 10K and 1 for the 5K. Half- Miles: 4, 7, 10 and 12. We'll have 8oz water bottles at some and paper cups with volunteers at others, it's grab as you go by and throw away properly for each runner! All water stations will have portable toilets. 10K- (bathrooms at start) miles 3 and 5. 5K (bathroom at start)-mile 2. Logistically it’s difficult to place more stops on Hwy 52 but it will be shaded, cool and downhill. However, we encourage you to carry your own hydration if you feel that this isn’t adequate for your needs. We’ll have garbage cans placed @ .25 miles from the tables for you to place EMPTY bottle and food wrappers (please pour out access water) into receptacle.

BAG/CLOTHING DROP

For each distance we’ll have a bin to place discarded clothing at the start. As long as clothing is placed before the “gun” goes off your clothing will be waiting for you near the finish when you’re done. If not placed soon enough then it’ll be picked up by the SAG Wagon and brought to the finish @ 10:30am. 

TRANSFERS

For anyone wishing to switch distances; from 1/2 to 10K, etc. You can still change online until midnight 4/25. Or can do so in person when you pick up your bib#/t-shirt. There is no charge for "downgrading" but if upgrading to a longer distance you'll be charged the current difference in cost. You can also make the switch when you pick-up bib#/t-shirt. Bib #'s are not transferable and unfortunately refunds will not be given.

RUNNER QUESTIONS

We added some additional questions for participants when you register after some had already signed up. If you signed up more than 30 days ago, please log back in and answer questions. Not mandatory but will aid us for future events. Thank you

AWARDS

All finishers will receive a beautiful medal! Age group awards for the Half, 10K and 5K. You can go to scorer table at the finish line to check your placement in age group to see if you get an award. Plaques for overall winners in the Half marathon only (top male/female and masters male/female)

PHOTOS

Back again is TrueSpeed Photos for on course pictures! Photography with downloadable pictures will be ready early next week!

FOOD AND DRINK AND BAND 

BBQ by George is back! Pulled pork BBQ, veggies dogs, mac-n-cheese, baked beans, salty snacks, fruit and bottled water. Cold beer also for 21 and+ participants. Live music 9am-11am to enjoy with your recovery and food in the park.

CHARITY

Our charity partner is Murray Arts Council and they’ll be providing most of the volunteers on race day and they’d love to have your support too! Thank you those that have donated! Together over the years we’ve raised over $10,000 that is used to fund local arts and live performances in Chatsworth area.

If you plan to have someone drop you off at the start of the half marathon only (in front of the Overlook Inn) they can do so between 6:30-7:15am but they can only drop off and have to LEAVE the area immediately to avoid congestion. And under no circumstances can anyone park at the race start, all vehicles should park at the finish area near City Park, Chatsworth. No personal drop off for 10K or 5K as they are at precarious points on the mountain road and difficult to manage if not familiar.

Thanks,

The TDH Team!