Grand Rapids, Michigan, will host the largest 25K road race in the United States next Saturday, 9 May, when the Amway River Bank Run presented by Fifth Third Bank returns for its 49th edition. The downtown event, looped along the Grand River and out into the city's wider park system, has stood as the USA Track & Field 25 km Open Championships since 1995, making 2026 the 31st straight year that an American national title will be settled on its course.
Organisers expect more than 10,000 finishers across the weekend, with the headline 25K joined by a 10K, 5K and 5K Community Walk on Saturday, plus the Amway Junior Run on the preceding Wednesday evening. The event also stages the only 25K wheelchair race in the world and a 25K handcycle division — a niche distance that the River Bank Run has championed for decades and that has helped seed national championships and Para world records on the same closed-road circuit.
Spring temperatures in west Michigan should sit in the low to mid teens Celsius for an 8am start, the conditions that have historically produced the fastest times on a course that sweeps west out of downtown over the Pearl Street Bridge before tracking the river. The 25K distance — 15.5 miles — is an awkward in-between for marathoners shaping a peak, but useful: long enough to test fuelling and pacing, short enough to recover for a June race block, which is part of why the USATF Open Championship has stayed on the calendar even as the road circuit has consolidated.
The men's American 25K record of 1:13:31, set by Stanley Kebenei at this race in 2021, has held up under serious assault in recent editions, with three sub-1:14 performances in the past two years alone. The women's national best of 1:21:35 by Keira D'Amato is similarly within range, and a thinner-than-usual elite field across most US spring road races has opened the door for ambitious second-tier names to chase a US title and the prize-money bonuses that come with it. USATF has confirmed that the championship divisions will run with full prize purses across both able-bodied and wheelchair categories.
Beyond the elite battle, the River Bank Run has also leaned into its identity as a community fixture for the wider Grand Rapids running scene, with Fifth Third's title sponsorship — extended through 2027 last autumn — helping fund pace teams, scholarships and local club programmes. With 2027 marking the 50th anniversary edition, organisers say next weekend's race is also being treated as a soft launch for that bigger celebration: the start area will host an expanded expo and the city's mayor is expected to open the elite 25K from the Fifth Third Plaza start line.