The rugged, hilly terrain of South Dakota’s Black Hills region unfolds along the course of the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon, Half Marathon & Relay, following the former Burlington Northern Rail Line, which stretched 114 miles from Edgemont to Deadwood, S.D., until it was abandoned in 1989 and converted to a bicycle, hiking and walking trail.
The half marathon course, which begins at the halfway point of the full marathon just outside the town of Dumont, takes runners northward along the Mickelson Trail on an almost all-downhill course to the finish line in Deadwood.
More than 2,200 runners crossed the finish line in the full, half and relay marathons in 2016, including just over 1,920 finishers in the half marathon alone.
The race takes runners over a mixture of paved surfaces and gravelly trails, and runs through some of South Dakota’s most well-known areas — home of Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, and the Devils Tower National Monument (perhaps made most famous in the movie “Close Encounters”).
Along the way, the course also crosses converted railroad bridges and runs through hardrock tunnels, passing through gorgeous, scenic National Forest lands.
Most of the course is either flat or gently sloping downhill stretches. In the final six miles of the half-marathon, the course is almost all downhill, especially between miles 8 and 10, which race organizers describe as a “serious downhill — you’ll have to be careful not to become a runaway.”
The remaining 4 miles are mostly flat and end at the Engine Trailhead in downtown Deadwood.
