To see a full map of the Mill Cities Relay course, click here.
This year there is a new starting point: Nashua Senior Center, Nashua, NH, and a finishing point: Salvatore’s Italian Restaurant, Lawrence, MA. Details below.
Below are the routes of each leg of the course. There are also alternate driving routes at the bottom.
| Distance | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5.64 miles | This leg starts at Nashua Senior Center, 70 Temple Street in Nashua, NH.
Note: Teams who plan to carpool and leave their cars in Nashua should either park on the street or in the Nashua Public Library parking lot. DO NOT leave cars parked in the Nashua Senior Center parking lot. This leg starts just outside the Nashua Senior Center (70 Temple St). The start is the cross walk at the corner of Temple & South streets. The course proceeds east on Temple St, with a sight bend to the right where Temple meets Armory St. And then turns left at E Hollis St. crossing to the right side of the road (facing Hudson). The leg continues on the right side of the bridge straight across the bridge and into Hudson, NH. After crossing the bridge take the first right onto Central St. Runners stay to the right until the start of Rte. 3A (Lowell Rd.) where they cross to the left (against traffic). (Runners crossing before the designated point risk penalty/disqualification. This is a safety issue and applies to all crossovers; please follow the rules.) Continue down on the left side of the road until the intersections of Lowell, Dracut and River Roads. Runners will bear left onto Dracut Road. Slightly up the road, your second crossover will be a right down Stuart Street. (map)
Runners will take a left at the end of Stuart Street and continue on River Road until Exchange Zone 1. PLEASE NOTE: If you plan on following the progress of the race during leg 1, please leave the Nashua Senior Center by 7:45 am. This will help us prevent a traffic jam crossing the river.
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| 2 | 4.75 miles | This leg starts behind the Sears Warehouse building located at the corner of Rte. 3A (River Rd) and Pine Rd in Hudson, NH (across from the entrance of BAE System located at 65 River Road). Do not park on Rte. 3A. there is ample parking adjacent to the building. Continue south on 3A into Tyngsboro (Frost Rd) until you reach Lawndale Rd, go left here. Follow Lawndale Rd to Colburn Rd. Follow Colburn Ave to a three way stop, go straight across onto Sherburne Ave. Continue straight on Sherburne Ave until you reach the rear entrance of the Greater Lowell Technical High School. Exchange Zone 2 will be in the undercover tunnel on the school grounds. Spectators and support personnel please park in in one of the adjacent parking lots.
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| 3 | 2.5 miles | From Exchange Zone 2 your will exit the Greater Lowell Technical High School from the front entrance and left onto Rte 113. Parking on Rte. 113 at exchange 2 is NOT ALLOWED. There is plenty of parking in the Greater Lowell Technical High School parking lot. Leg 3 goes straight on Rte. 113, into Lowell. Just before reaching the Rourke Bridge (large metal bridge) you will be directed onto the bike path paralleling the Merrimack River.
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| 4 | 9.8 miles | The exchange point for this leg is located at the Bellegarde Boathouse directly across from the Dunkin Donuts on Rte. 113. YOU CAN park along Rte. 113 at exchange 3 at the Bellegarde Boat House. There is ample parking in the lot adjacent to the building. This leg proceeds straight on the bike path that runs parallel to the river (snow permitting) until you reach the Sampus Pavillion (large metal white structure). At this point you will merge back onto Rte. 113 and continue straight past the O’Donnell and UMass Lowell Bridges. Please be aware of the traffic at these two busy intersections. (NOTE: Between these two bridges Rte. 113 merges with Rte. 110. You will be going onto Rte. 110. If you remember to keep the Merrimack River to your immediate right, you will be on course.) About 1/2 mile after passing UMass Lowell’s North Campus, you will again be directed onto a bike path that parallels the Merrimack River (snow permitting). Continue straight on the bike path until the end where you will merge back onto Rte. 110. Be very careful here since this is a dangerous curve (aka Deadman’s curve). Continue straight on Rte. 110 into Dracut then Methuen.
The exchange point is located on the right side of the street at the New Balance Store parking lot, 596 Lowell St., Methuen, MA. You cannot park on Rte. 110. Spectators and support personnel, please park in adjacent parking lots or side streets.
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| 5 | 5.04 miles | From Exchange Zone 4 you will exit the New Balnce parking lot and continue on Rt. 110. Follow Rt. 110 and then bear right after the Dunkin’ Donuts onto Riverside Drive; run with the flow of traffic. Riverside Drive becomes Water Street when you enter Lawrence. You will be running parallel to the Merrimack River. Continue straight on Water Street.
Continue straight (east) on Water street, which becomes Canal street. The road bends slight right at Lawrence St, continue east to Union St. At Union St, volunteers and police will help runners turn right and crossover left side of Union St. Runners must use the sidewalk on Union St and the Duck Bridge over the river. Failure to use the sidewalk will result in team disqualification. At the corner of Union and Merrimack streets, runners turn left and use the bike lane on the left side of Merrimack St. At the second road on the left, runners turn left (immediately after the 290 Riverwalk Crossing sign). The finish line is 150 ft ahead.
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ALTERNATIVE DRIVING ROUTES: Here are the links to the bypass driving directions using Google maps.