Connect:

Yankee Homecoming Road Races – A Newburyport Tradition

Featured Video Play Icon

The 63rd  Annual Yankee Homecoming Road Races hosted by the Newburyport Lion’s Club will be held Tuesday, August 1st 2023. The Yankee Homecoming 10 Mile and 5K races are a wonderful tradition in Newburyport. The 5K race starts at 6 pm and the 10 mile race starts at 6:10 pm, with the start and the finish of the races at Newburyport High School.

It’s hard to believe that the Yankee Homecoming Road Races started with 30 runners in 1960. It has grown drastically in popularity with thousands of runners participating each year! Early August can be toasty for runners and spectators. Be sure to hydrate well and stay hydrated! There are water stops along the courses and there are plenty of refreshments available in Newburyport before, during, and after the races. If race day is hot you will even find a few residents along the route offering the option for runners to cool off as the run through a refreshing hose mist. You’re certain to feel the adrenaline rush with the exceptional fan participation and thousands of competitive runners. The locals are out there every step of the course cheering and trying to spot friends and family as they speed by in the sea of color.

The Yankee Homecoming Road Races are an ideal opportunity for runners to challenge themselves, and to enjoy the beautiful Newburyport scenery! This event is a wonderful way for runners to enjoy the gorgeous historic neighborhoods and coastline of Newburyport. It’s known as one of the best road races in the region and offers family-friendly fun. The course takes runners along the ocean and through quintessential New England streets.

Information about the registration process, race pricing, and course maps for the Yankee Homecoming Road Races is available on the Lions Club website. Discounts are available for early registration and there is an increased cost to register the day of the race but the standard registration cost is $30 for the 5K and $40 for the 10 mile.  Everyone registered before July 11th will receive a commemorative short-sleeve tech race shirt.  After that date, shirts cannot be be guaranteed – register early!

If you are one of the first 2000 people to register you will receive a Yankee Homecoming Road Race T-Shirt. T-shirts are also available on race day for purchase. All finishers will receive a custom finisher medal with a sublimated neck ribbon. Proceeds from the races will go to support the Massachusetts Lions Eye Research Fund, which benefits eye research in innovative Massachusetts.

Contact the dedicated organizers of the Yankee Homecoming Road Races with any questions you may have about the races and check the Newburyport.com Events Calendar for details of all other Yankee Homecoming Events including the Newburyport Bed Racing, also hosted by the Newburyport Lion’s Club.

 

 

Tall Ships Visit Newburyport – Maritime Days 2017

By Laura Bentley, Newburyport.Com Correspondent
Owner of Newburyport.Com, Laura manages Business Development, Fundraising, the VIP Program, Blogging and the Events Calendar.
Tall Ships, Newburyport

Thanks to the Custom House Maritime Museum, the Greater Newburyport Community and curious visitors from near and far, we were fortunate to experience Newburyport’s maritime history through tours and events associated with the visit of Tall Ships:  Schooner Alabama and Schooner Adventure during the 2017 Maratime Days celebration.

Excitement is always in the air for the arrival of Newburyport Maritime Days and these breathtaking Tall Ships! Schooner Alabama and Schooner Adventure arrived on Wednesday, May 24th at 10:52 AM on the high tide at the mouth of the Merrimack River.  The arrival was marked with a parade of sails to the Newburyport waterfront and the official welcoming ceremony on Wednesday evening from 6 – 8 PM.

General public tours were available Thursday through Monday and as always, the Newburyport.com Events Calendar featured all Maritime Day events including Tall Ships, Newburyport important details, dates and times of special tours and events for student groups, seniors, and artists as well as a number of fun social events.

If you are enamored by the beauty of these amazing tall ships, we highly recommend a tour of the Custom House Maritime Museum.  Newburyport is a city filled with fascinating stories of folks who navigated ships, worked on ships, built ships and those who sailed for both business and adventure on incredible journeys of exploration.  If locals weren’t somehow connected to ships, it was certain that a family member or neighbor was, and that ships had a significant impact on the lives of everyone from Newburyport.  The Custom House Maritime Museum is the ultimate destination for learning and sharing maritime history and tradition.  If you haven’t been it is a must on the bucket list, and if you have been then stop in again and discover more stories and adventures of our Newburyport founding residents.

While exploring the Tall Ships we also highly recommend a visit to the, Newburyport Collection, a group of regional hand crafters, artists, and vendors selling their wares on the green, the 27th through the 29th.  This is another great opportunity to further explore Newburyport’s maritime traditions and and history.  You will find them under the tent on the Custom House waterfront lawn.

The schooner Alabama is a living piece of America’s maritime history. Built in 1926 for the Mobile, Alabama Bar Pilots, she sTall Ships, Newburyporterved until her retirement in 1966. She is not a replica, a ship built to emulate the style of past generations, but rather a design of Thomas F. McManus, a man widely regarded as the best designer of all the Gloucester fishing schooners. Alabama’s second phase of her life began when the Coastwise Packet Company and its owner, Robert Douglas purchased and brought her to Vineyard Haven in 1967. Never fitted out as a sailing vessel by the Mobile Pilots, she was finally given this opportunity thirty years later when it was decided to put her back to work in 1994. The rebuild that was a result of this decision lasted over three years and replaced almost 90% of her original form. As with the Shenandoah, Captain Douglas gave every consideration to her construction and the result is a vessel true to the era and design of McManus. The fishing schooner was an American invention, and the Alabama represents the finest vessels from this area when ships like her were relied on to provide the country with the staple of its economy, codfish.

Tall Ships Newburyport

The Schooner Adventure was designed by the famous marine architect Thomas McManus as a “knockabout” without a bowsprit for the safety of the crew. The schooner was built in 1926, in Essex, Massachusetts, by the John F. James and Son Shipyard. She measured 121.6 feet in length, 24.5 feet in breadth, and 14 feet in depth. Her gross tonnage was 130 and her net tonnage 62. When built, Adventure was powered by a 120 horsepower engine turning a single screw in a cutout space in the rudder.

Experience Newburyport Maritime Days by touring the Tall Ships, attending amazing events, and make certain you also tour the Custom House Maritime Museum.  Whether you are local to Newburyport or just visiting for Maritime Days be sure to download the Newburyport App.  The Neburyport App is a community based loyalty program that offers folks discounts at 180 local restaurants and shops and and helps support local nonprofit organizations.  Please consider supporting the Custom House Maritime Museum with your Newburyport App purchase.  In addition to being a nonprofit partner, The Custom House Maritime Museum also provides discounts as part of the VIP Program.  Show your Newburyport App or VIP Card and receive 50% off Museum admission and 10% off gift shop purchases of $25 or more.

Skip to toolbar