New Year's Eve 5K - Mentor

New Year's Eve 5K - Mentor is run at Veteran's Park in Mentor, Ohio, in Lake County, on December 31, 2026, with the gun at 3:30 p.m. The single format is a 5K (3.1 miles), set up as a community send-off to the year with countdowns and music around the start and finish. Every participant receives a finisher medal and a shirt.

A mid-afternoon 5K on the last day of December is an easy race to slot into a holiday week. If you have kept some running going through December, you can treat it as a hard effort with no taper at all: jog 10 to 15 minutes beforehand, add a few strides, and go out at a pace you can hold for 20 to 30 minutes. If your training has been patchy, run the first mile conservatively and use the second half to pass people. Northeast Ohio in late December is cold, so plan a layer you can shed before the start.