Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon Official Website

The "Nitty Gritty" Details (User Opinions)

Amy M.
Rapid City, SD

  (01-04-2012)

"I loved this race! Plenty of Aid Stations, great people along the course, even in places you would think there was no access to off of the road, there were people there! I loved the guys along the way with the free high fives! They were awesome! Nice people, quick after race results, and you can't beat the scenery! What a great day this was! Thank you DMTM team!"

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2011

Russ J.
North, GA

  (06-17-2009)

"It's billed as "26.2 Miles of Breathtaking Black Hills Beauty", and it is! The elevation profile tells the story, it climbs steadily from 5300 to 6300 ft at the halfway point (and half marathon start) then descends to 4600 feet at the end. This makes the half-marathon a pretty fast course. It's a really well-run race, too. Aid stations are about every two miles. Spectators are virtually nonexistent, as only a few trailheads along the route are accessible to vehicles.
Most of the route is along the Mickelson Trail, a sand/gravel rails-to-trails path through the beautiful Black Hills landscape past horse and cattle ranches, ghost towns, abandoned gold mines, over bridges, past creeks and beaver ponds, through one tunnel, past the gold mining town of Lead, and ending in Historic Deadwood, SD. The soft path is easy on the legs. The 13-mile climb is never steep but is relentless, varying up to about 3% grade, and for lowlanders, the elevation adds to the difficulty. It took an extra effort to maintain a decent pace and by the time I reached the summit I was really feeling it. Just past the halfway the trail starts downhill again and I felt better immediately. Again, it's not steep but a nice, gradual downward slope that was a relief after the long climb. Still, legs were tired and it took an effort. There's one short climb in mile 19 and a rather steep, quad-pounding descent in mile 20. After that, a steady decline into Deadwood and the finish. The RD welcomed each finisher personally, which was a nice touch.
The race has a small but nice expo, great tech T-shirts and great finisher medals featuring two of Deadwood's most famous residents, Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Trolleys pick up runners from all local hotels and deliver them to the buses which run to the marathon and half marathon start lines.
The weather in the Black Hills in June can be just about anything from snow to broiling. This year it was 38°F and raining. Which is my only real complaint about the race--Marathoners were dropped off at the start in the tiny town of Rochford, SD, and the buses departed, leaving us shivering in the cold rain for 90 minutes before the start. Some sort of shelter would have been nice but there was none! Half Marathoners were able to wait in the buses which waited there until the start, and even had hot coffee. Why didn't the marathoner buses stay? The cold weather was a plus once the race started, except that once we passed the half marathon start the trail got very muddy and slick in spots.
While you are there, there's plenty of great stuff to see in the Black Hills, we visited Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse memorial (very impressive!), Devils Tower, Spearfish Canyon, and of course Deadwood. Definitely a destination marathon. "

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2009