Sep 27, 2025
8:00 AM
Trail
$65+
Waverly
1-100
Fast & Flat
Park Run
Set for its annual start-of-fall running here in this small town in northeastern Iowa that’s home to just over 9,000 souls, the Oktoberfest Best Dam Run 5K Run/Walk and Half Marathon takes runners on an out-and-back run along park trails and rail trails, with tree-canopied stretches for much of the course.
There’s also some stretches along Iowa’s Cedar River in the early miles of the race, as you’ll make a pair of bridge crossings over the river in the first few miles.
Half-Marathon,10k,5k
Runners will start the race at the Waverly Civic Center, which lies between 1st and 2nd Avenues downtown, just east of the river. From there, the course unfolds first along a clockwise loop around Three Rivers Park, and then onto the Kohlmann Park Trail.
That stretch will take runners south and east toward Brookwood Park, where they’ll make a loop around that park before retracing their steps along the Kohlmann Park Trail again.
Next, the race takes runners back through town and then onto the Waverly Rail Trail, which stretches more than 7 1/2 miles long through the city, from downtown all the way to where it meets U.S. Highway 63. The trail is 10 feet wide and paved with asphalt throughout.
Here’s what the race director said in an email to HalfMarathons.Net, describing the course:
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