Road race season has begun, but only two races are scheduled in Arlington so far this year.
Race organizers say the town’s new rules are making things more challenging and expensive. That’s because the rules require organizers to pay for a police detail at each race.
The Select Board has approved three road races for 2026: the Arlington Education Foundation 5K on May 17, the Turkey Trot on Nov. 8 and the Lag Baomer 5K, but organizers of the Lag Baomer 5K have canceled the race.
It is unclear how this compares to years past. Town officials told YourArlington they were unable to provide a list of road races that have happened in Arlington in previous years.
Last year the Select Board approved a new application process for 5K runs and walks as well as a standardized list of rules that includes a requirement for a police detail at each race.
Before that, Town Manager Jim Feeney said, each application was reviewed individually and had its own set of conditions. Feeney said the new application was a “codification of existing practices” and was created to streamline the process.
Road races – which are allowed between May 1 and December 1 – must comply with a host of rules: They need one police supervisor and seven police officers on site. Event coordinators must hire a company to place and remove traffic cones. All runners must register before the event, coordinators must post “No Parking” signs, and coordinators must post directional signs along Massachusetts Avenue. If the race takes place on a Sunday, it must start at 8 a.m.
Most of those rules were previously in place. The police detail is the only new requirement, Feeney said.
YourArlington spoke with three race organizers who said that the updated rules posed difficulties for their events.
Stephanie Murphy, co-president of the Arlington Education Foundation, said the cost of the required police detail at its 5K has increased significantly.
According to Select Board documents, the AEF 5K had three detail officers in 2022 and four police in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, the Select Board required six police officers. The new rule requires seven police officers and a supervisor.
Feeney said the cost of the previous arrangement of three officers and one supervisor was $1,827. The current requirement of seven officers and one supervisor cost $3,507 – almost double.
Arlington Police Chief Julie Flaherty defended the need for more officers.
“The larger police presence ensures there are enough personnel to safely manage road closures and traffic throughout the race course for the benefit of the race participants and the general public,” Flaherty wrote in a statement to YourArlington. “It also permits rapid response to any emergencies that may arise during the race.”
In past years, Feeney said, on-duty officers would have to be diverted to help with traffic and crowd control. He also said that the race applications would underestimate how many runners would participate. It became clear that they had to increase the police detail, he said.
The approved race course is difficult from a safety perspective, Murphy said, because of motorists driving alongside runners on Massachusetts Avenue.
“There’s really no other great place in Arlington that’s not on the road to be able to do these,” Murphy said.
The requirement to create a massive coned-off area this year was a huge expense, Murphy said, though she couldn’t say how much. She said that the board could not share this information.
Arlington EATS, an anti-hunger nonprofit, started the Turkey Trot two years ago to engage the community and raise money, said volunteer manager Natasha Strom. The start time for the race – 8 a.m. on a Sunday — is not ideal, she said.
In 2024, Arlington EATS had its first Turkey Trot race at the Arlington reservoir, Strom said, but it wasn’t an ideal race course and there was no way for it to grow.
Last November, the Turkey Trot was held on a different course—the only town-approved race route, which starts and ends at Hill’s Hill Field. This year’s race will be held November 8.
“When you have races of 500-plus runners, it’s just simply not a long enough and large enough or wide enough course to accommodate that many individuals,” Feeney said of the reservoir race route.
Strom said she would prefer to have the Turkey Trot race start at 9 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. The first annual Turkey Trot race began at 10 a.m.
“For us, being in November, 8 a.m. on a Sunday, you’re setting up at like 6 o’clock. It’s dark, it’s cold,” Strom said. However, she said she understood that the rule was put in place to avoid traffic.
Feeney said that road races are allowed to start on other days of the week, but they are usually held on Sundays to avoid any conflicts.
In a statement, Flaherty said Sunday races are limited to 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. to “reduce the overall impact on traffic.”
Strom said the cost of hiring police officers and a company to place cones ate up a “good chunk” of the fundraising.
Murphy said that she is concerned that a small organization could have a difficult time putting on a race.
“You’re charging a fee for the race, so you’re gonna make money off the race, but at the same time it’s hard,” Murphy said. “If you’re trying to fundraise, how much money can you make?”