This was my first marathon. I hope they are all not like this. Don't get me wrong - the spirit of the town and the spectators was great, but the actual organization of the race needed some help.

The website promised Vanilla Bean GUs at mile 17. It seems that there were Chocolate GUs at mile 18. Not only was the flavor promised and the mile it was provided at wrong, I didn't even see any GU - Vanilla Bean or Chocolate. I was told they must have run out. Not good enough when you're counting on that GU at such a crucial point in the race.

The website promised that any runners that fundraised for Easter Seals would receive a refund of their registration fee at packet pick up. I raised over $300 dollars and was told at packet pick up that they didn't have enough money to reimburse me. It gets worse. I gave someone my address and now 10 days later, nothing.

I won't be running this one next year, nor will I be recommending it to any of my running buddies.

My 13th - I've run a number of big and small marathons. I have generally been disappointed in the smaller ones, but Brookings bucks that trend. Very well organized and executed. Charming town, nice course, and lots of volunteers and community spirit.

I choose this as my last attempt at a Boston qualifier. I ran a PR by 25 minutes and qualified for Boston with 15 minutes to spare. The course is beautiful, with no bad spots. There was wind, but as stated before, you never seem to be out in it for more than a few blocks. The many turns kept it interesting, and kept my mind off of the distance I had gone, or what was left. I just ran and looked around. The volunteers were great, and you don't have to worry about getting lost with someone at every turn. The marathon was run with the half and relay, so there were runners in sight all the way. Spectators are few and there's no expo or big pasta feed, so if you need that excitement pick a big city race. I would recommend this race for a first marathon, or a PR course. They really worked hard to put on a great event!

As my first marathon, it was a nice experience. Right about the time I thought my legs would fall off at mile 23, a wonderful lady offered me fresh cut orange wedges. How did she know I'd appreciate oranges right then? That kind of small town hospitality made the marathon memorable for me. The water points were well placed and the chocolate Gu at mile 18 hit the spot!

The Brookings Marathon was a very nice small marathon. The course meandered through the town, providing a scenic views of parks, residential areas and the university. While so many turns can make a course slower, I appreciated knowing that I would eventually turn out of the wind. While I'm personally not a big fan of gravel and grass surfaces, I'm sure many welcomed the break from hard pavement.

The water stops were well manned with both water and PowerAde, and the course well marked. I liked the long-sleeved t-shirt as well.

Overall, I would highly recommend this race. Great job!

Brookings was a great small-town marathon. This was my 10th marathon and one of my favorites. Plenty of water stops and porta-potties. The course is well marked and really flat with only one big hill at mile 8. Got a PR on this course. I was nervous about all the wind comments, but the course turns so much that you are never running into the wind too long. Wind didn't seem to be an issue. Enjoyed the marathon, and it's worth the trip for 50 Staters.

Nice and flat with wonderful volunteers. I really appreciated the cheers on such a dreary day. I plan on making the Brookings Marathon a yearly event for me.

What an awesome race! Short of Pike's Peak Marathon, this is the most interesting course I've run anywhere. Great volunteers and support. Spectators were few, but enthusiastic nonetheless. This would be a fantastic "first" marathon for most folks and a really fun one for the seasoned racer.

Small town marathoning at it's best! They advertise it as one of marathoning's best kept secrets, but not for long cuz word of mouth gets around fast in the running community.

Just a terrific route that has everything. Goes through small town main street America, park and bike path, grass/dirt/gravel trails, bridges, underpasses, historic neighborhoods, SDSU campus and Arboretum. A well marshalled and marked course, even though I got side tracked and had to crash through a hedge to get back on track, great fun. In fact volunteer to race entrant (including half marathoners) was one to one, wow. Thanks to all the volunteers on a grey, drizzly, windy and cool day. It couldn't have been easy to stand out there for up to five plus hours, but they keep their cheering and enthusiasm to the final runner.

Not a lot of spectators on the race course, but thanks to the ones that did show up. My special thanks to the two lovely gal in the Mini. You kept my spirit high in the last few miles.

As warned, there were winds present in this part of South Dakota (those windmill farms on the way there from Iowa were a definite clue that winds were common)and unfortunately the last third of the race took us heading directly into a northerly wind.

Race organization was superb and the race director was great. Lots of porta potties on route and even a gel station which is a rarity in this size of race. No worries about getting the race start/finish early and getting parking or getting lost in a crowd, like you do at mega marathons. You could have pulled up 10 minutes before the race and effortlessly hopped in.

A number of 50 Staters in attendance heading to the Fargo ND marathon the next Saturday, so you can get your Dakotas over with in one week.

Do this race, you won't regret it.

Brookings was my second marathon, the first one being Seattle in 2005. Having experienced a big city marathon already I was looking forward to seeing what a small town marathon was like. I had read many positive reviews of Brookings and I recently moved to South Dakota, so it was a natural choice. I definitely wasn't disappointed. The course was great: it's a large loop course that takes you on a running tour of almost the entire city of Brookings including the historic residential district, South Dakota State University, a few different parks and an arboretum. The course is almost totally flat with only one real hill and a few other minor inclines. South Dakota is famous (or infamous?) for being windy and the course layout takes as much advantage as possible of the shelter provided by the buildings and thousands of trees in Brookings. The wind was blowing at about 20 mph out of the north for the entire race but I still posted a huge PR. The organization was great: everything started on time, shuttles were available to the start line, there was ample parking at the start line, the course was marked clearly, aid stations were plentiful and well stocked and all of the volunteers were very enthusiastic, despite the cold, wet weather. Since Brookings is relatively small you shouldn't expect there to be a large number of spectators and there weren't. But, the spectators who were present were very energetic and supportive. The only downsides I discovered were that they course got pretty lonely (there were only 134 marathon finishers) especially during the last half. Also, I wasn't really impressed with the shirts. The design was fine, but I would have preferred a different color (not yellow). But that's more of a personal preference than a real downside. If you've only experienced big city marathons, you need to do yourself a favor and give Brookings a shot.