Sat, Sep 26, 2026
Chapel Hill, NC
Entry is $20 now and rises to $25 after Sep 1, 2026, so registering before then saves $5.
This road race in Chapel Hill draws people from university labs, tech companies, and nonprofits, all running for the same cause. The proceeds go toward STEM enrichment programs for high school students, both locally and across the state. The crowd tends to be researchers, engineers, and educators rather than a purely running-focused field.
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Going by the 2025 results, this is a small, friendly field, with a competitive front end and a big recreational middle.
· 2025 results
Top 3: Mary Joy (21:38) · Christopher Brache (23:57) · Stephen Allan (24:10)
The Strides for STEM 5K has been held every year since at least 2025. That is as far back as RunSignup's records for this race go, so it may well be older.
Enter a finish time to see where it lands against the most recent results.
How we calculate these stats: RunSesh calculates these figures from the most recent published results of past editions, sourced from RunSignup. We show aggregates only: field size, winning and median times, and the cutoff. We never publish individual finisher tables. Last updated Jul 27, 2026.
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Almost certainly not. Half the race field finished slower than 34:41, and the last recorded finisher came in around 45:45, so there is a long tail of runners behind the middle of the pack. Most fields are far slower than people expect.
It is a small race (38 finishers), which is friendlier and less intimidating than a big-city event, though the field thins out. There is no qualifying time, and the finish-time spread above shows how varied the field really is. If it is your first race, that spread matters more than the winner's time.
The race winner ran 21:38 while the median finisher took 34:41. That spread points to a mixed field, with a competitive front and a big recreational middle.
