8:30 AM
$80+
Run along a course that combines both paved city streets and sections of the Red Jacket Trail that winds from Mankato to the nearby Rapidan Township, and a former railroad corridor that today serves as a community-wide biking, running and walking trail.
Both the 13.1-mile half marathon and the 26.2-mile full marathon share the same starting line area near the campus of Minnesota State University-Mankato, at the intersection of Stadium Road and Monk Avenue.
From there, runners follow what is basically a large, U-shaped point-to-point route, starting first with some quick turns through campus before heading out southward onto Monk Avenue, which runners follow for roughly the next mile.
Once runners have made it just past the mile 2 marker, they turn right and then weave through the residential neighborhood surrounding the small FA Buscher Park for the next couple of miles before turning onto Stoltzmann Road and heading south for the next couple of miles.
Once runners have made it just past the mile 4 marker, they turn right and head onto the Red Jacket Trail, stretches of which feature some of this area’s most beautiful natural scenery, from sections that take runners along the winding Minnesota River to other stretches that parallel wide-open prairie lands just south of Mankato.
Runners follow the trail as it winds westward and then northward, running basically parallel to Hawthorn Road and Highway 66, and follow the trail back northward into town, turning back onto the road at Moreland Avenue.
After leaving the trail, the last few miles of the half marathon take runners through the streets of downtown Mankato before crossing the finish line.
The course is mostly fast and flat, with a few rolling hills throughout the course, as the course features its steepest downhill along the Red Jacket Trail just after runners pass the mile 5 marker, and then another uphill just as runners are making their way to the mile 8 marker.
The remainder of the course after this point is largely fast and flat, thanks to its sections along and near the river and in downtown Mankato.
From there, runners follow what is basically a large, U-shaped point-to-point route, starting first with some quick turns through campus before heading out southward onto Monk Avenue, which runners follow for roughly the next mile.
Once runners have made it just past the mile 2 marker, they turn right and then weave through the residential neighborhood surrounding the small FA Buscher Park for the next couple of miles before turning onto Stoltzmann Road and heading south for the next couple of miles.
Once runners have made it just past the mile 4 marker, they turn right and head onto the Red Jacket Trail, stretches of which feature some of this area’s most beautiful natural scenery, from sections that take runners along the winding Minnesota River to other stretches that parallel wide-open prairie lands just south of Mankato.
Runners follow the trail as it winds westward and then northward, running basically parallel to Hawthorn Road and Highway 66, and follow the trail back northward into town, turning back onto the road at Moreland Avenue.
After leaving the trail, the last few miles of the half marathon take runners through the streets of downtown Mankato before crossing the finish line.
The course is mostly fast and flat, with a few rolling hills throughout the course, as the course features its steepest downhill along the Red Jacket Trail just after runners pass the mile 5 marker, and then another uphill just as runners are making their way to the mile 8 marker.
The remainder of the course after this point is largely fast and flat, thanks to its sections along and near the river and in downtown Mankato.
8:30 AM
$80+
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