Organization and course support were outstanding. Every water stop had enthusiastic volunteers. This year the weather was perfect! The course is varied enough so just about the time you get tired of the section the course changes. Very friendly runners and spectators. A super small marathon that I highly recommend!

Boston or New York it is not...thankfully.
Flat course except for one hill in the front half. Potty and bag drop literally 2 minutes from the starting line. Volunteers were all pleasant, very few spectors & entertainment was nil which perhaps stimulated a high level of comradery among the runners. Excellent technical zippered shirt and napsack. Very good post race refreshments including - get this - cook to order hamburgers! Overall a great experience on my quest(31 to go) of the 50 states.

I really loved this race. PR'd by over 8 minutes. It's a pretty, small-town course, varied surfaces, flat and fast, good support from spectators, plus the race shirt is a cut above the usual fare. So much to love about this race.

The field is about 1,000 runners, including half-marathoners. There were 232 runners for the full.

My only recommendation for the race organizers would be to eliminate the sidewalk stretches. I hate running on sidewalk, and while there weren't a lot of these stretches, there were enough to make it annoying at times. That's a pretty minor complaint, though, because on the whole the course is lovely and easy.

I thought the course was just perfect. I liked the small town atmosphere of the race. Volunteers were friendly and helpful. Temperatures in the 40's but that is what I expected for South Dakota in May. Fan support was great. The streets weren't lined with spectators but neither are my long training runs. Have recommended it to others and I plan on running it again next year. A very nice race.

Great, well-run race. The course loops through several residential communities with pretty houses, through the pretty SDSU campus and around a 3M plant and a number of small parks. All in all, the scenery was diverse enough that I never got bored with the run. The organizers and the volunteers were absolutely fantastic, and runners picked up great SWAGa nylon drawstring and zippered bag, and a zippered long sleeve technical tee that is my favorite of all the shirts I've gotten at marathons. Spectators got neat little cowbells to cheer their runners on. Burgers at the end were excellent. For food, try Bravos. Very good post-race steak and beer. All in all, Brookings was a great host and a great marathon. I'd run this again, if I didn't have so many other states to run.

Please don't let ratings like the one from Dave Graves discourage you from experiencing this race! Volunteers outnumber runners at this quality event, and the locals who turn out to watch are genuine, warm and enthusiastic! My most important spectators are friends and family who traveled with me to Brookings, and could easily move about town and cheer for me every mile or two along the course. Try that at Boston!

If you need fans to motivate your run, Brookings is not the place to run. You need to bring your own fans. Of course, with wind and temperatures in the 40s, it is not conducive to sitting on the curb watching runners go by.
But the cool temperatures were good for running. The course is well marked and the aid stations plentiful.
While it is a small marathon in a small town, there is nothing bush league about the way the marathon is run. Nice high-tech shirts, plenty of workers on the course, a spacious park to stretch and warm up at before the race.

I hesitate to only give a 3 rating for spectators, because I loved the ones that were there; it's just that there were not very many. The Brookings Optimist Club was fantastic. The course was great, flat and broken up because it went all around the town. It made the distance less intimidating. My family could see me on almost every part of the route, they had plenty of support, and we had fantastic weather all around. After running some of the larger marathons, this one was particularly enjoyable.

I would like to thanks Matt Bien and his crew of friendly volunteers for the support, putting on a great marathon and waiting for us who had a bad day and struggled through the last 10 miles. As a result I managed to qualify for the 50 States Marathon Club.

I would have to rate this as one of nicest small marathons that I've ever run - it was a great route.

I enjoyed this marathon. The volunteers and spectators were very nice. About every 5 miles or so, I would get a sense of deja vu as it seemed I was running toward the elevator again! Lots of back and forth through the town - 2 miles east, then a half-mile south, and then 2 miles west, and then do it over again!

Liked the small-town atmosphere, and the friendly staff and people!