Peak performance meets peak foliage
October 10, 2025 | By Sarah Andrews | Community News ServiceThis post was updated on Oct. 13.
Runners start both races from the State Office Complex in downtown Waterbury. Photo by Gordon Miller
Anxious runners stretched in the parking lot while friends and families set up chairs on the historic Vermont State Office Complex last Sunday, all awaiting the beginning of the annual Leaf Peepers Half-Marathon and 5K race.
Half-marathon runner David Sinclair of Waitsfield is the first to cross the finish line, completing 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 7 minutes. Photo by Sarah Andrews
About 500 runners of all ages made their way to the starting line at 9 a.m., just as the sun was beginning to beam down for an unseasonably warm October day.
The group Central Vermont Runners organizes the race, which has been a New England tradition since 1984. The half-marathon course has stayed mostly the same for over 40 years. It begins on Horseshoe Drive, travels along Rt. 100 in Waterbury to River Road in Duxbury, and crosses the Winooski Street bridge, into Randall Meadow, ending back where it began.
This is the 41st running of the race (they skipped 2020 because of COVID-19). Race director Will Robens says it’s the biggest race that Central Vermont Runners puts on every year.
In four decades of racing, the Leaf Peepers half-marathon has gained some loyal supporters. “There’s people that have been running it since the beginning,” Robens said. “A lot of the CVR club members do it almost every year, and have been for a long time.”
It’s not just Vermonters. The Leaf Peepers race draws in runners from all over to see Vermont's scenery during peak foliage.
Marcia Andresen and Cody Andresen-Otten came up from Florida for the 5K race. The mother and son pair are trying to run a race in all 50 states. Vermont is number 47. These races are a fun challenge for the pair. “It’s nice. We can do our own thing,” Andresen-Otten said.
Amanda Whitaker from New York has raced in all seven of the World Marathon Majors in Tokyo, Boston, London, Sydney, Berlin, Chicago, and New York. She crossed the finish line in Sydney in August and says that Vermont brings a welcome change of pace. “It’s leaf peeping, I can just relax and enjoy it,” Whitaker said.
Among the 5Kracers was 6-year-old Marley Ndione of Montpelier, who danced across the finish line. “He’s run a lot of races with me. He loves them,” said Mohamaduou Ndione, Marley’s father.
The winner of the half-marathon was Waitsfield’s David Sinclair, who completed the 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 7 minutes. Sinclair is an ultra-runner, and he usually runs long-distance trail races. “It’s a beautiful day and you have peak foliage,” said Sinclair, “I was running a little too hard to take it all in.”
Neal Graves of Waterbury was first to cross the finish line in the 5K, completing that course with a time of 17:40.8.
Full results from both races are online at leafpeepershalfmarathon.org. The tallies list 281 half-marathon finishers and 172 who completed the 5K.
Scenes from Leaf Peepers 2025: Photos by Gordon Miller
Pre-race pitstop as runners queue up for the portable toilets ahead of the 2025 Leaf Peepers Half Marathon and 5K at the Waterbury State Office Complex on Oct. 5. Photo by Gordon Miller
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Community News Service is a University of Vermont journalism internship that produces local news coverage for Vermont news outlets, including Waterbury Roundabout.