SF Marathon was all I expected from reading reviews. Wanted a course with cool temps to BQ. This mostly flat course is that.

The price was right starting at $70.

Volunteers were friendly and plentiful. A well put together race.

I would prefer paper cups to plastic at aid stations, but that was only complaint.

Sheraton was right by start and walking there was so much nicer than having to rush in traffic.

Packet Pickup was at Scheels Sporting Goods. It was easy and the volunteers there were helpful.

Overall, Sioux Falls puts on a good event. I would run this again and bring my family along to enjoy what the town has to offer.

The marathon was well organized and the water stations were plentiful. I also enjoyed the city of Sioux Falls. The downtown area was very clean with great bars and restaurants.

The folks who organized the Sioux Falls Marathon did a great job. Great organization, wonderful volunteers and the spectators were outstanding cheerleaders...a first class marathon in a first class city!

As a home town runner, I must say this is nice marathon with just a few hills to negotiate over the first half of the course. Keep in mind that there is minimal crowd support during much of the race, but what is lacking in numbers is more than made up in enthusiasm. If they revert back to the mult-purpose trails that have been detoured because of construction between miles 19-23 the last several years, the last portion will be shaded and much cooler.

I have nothing but good things to say about this race. The organization was exceptional. Great to stay in the Sheraton and walk to a very nice stadium starting line. Truly enjoyed a course that varied from wide open spaces to parks to downtown to a nicely shaded path. Volunteers were numerous and enthusiastic. Results were posted almost immediately. A great marathon experience.

Sioux Falls is a nice small city and the people are very friendly. I would highly recommend this race - well organized, easy transportation, nice people, decent shirt & medal, and flat course. The second half got really hot, but much of the run was along a shaded path, which really helped a lot.

the registartion was easy in and out, the start was nice location, the course was rolling hills to mile 9ish then flat around the airport full sun, scenic run by the falls park, last few miles were on a well shaded but uneven trail, finish medal was a medium size and patiotic for the 9/11date, aid was good with many supporters every where.

The sun was just coming over the horizon as the race started at 6:45. It was a lovely course with mostly gentle ups & downs. A nice variety of open fields, city centre, Falls park and then into the shaded area of riverside parks. It was well marked. The volunteers were great although the last two water stations were really tight spots. It was hard for the runners to get through the area. Some improvement needs to happen to change the problem. Water cups could be larger as well.
The officers did a great job of keeping the traffic out of our pathway. They even took the time to encourage me along the way! Not my fastest race but a great one anyway!

A well coordinated small event (358 runners for the full marathon). I liked the separate start times for full and half marathoners. Also the course was designed in a way that there were few half marathoners still on the shared portion of the course. Down sides of the course - (1) long open portions with no protection from wind or sun (2) loose gravel on section of street that could have been swept up.

Aid stations were adequately spaced. The little plastic cups though were not easily squishable on the top so one could drink while still running. Recommend organizers use paper cups in future.

Cheer stations were few but some were great. I really enjoyed the hawaii theme kids group and the patriotic group with a band and American flag waving. Runners need more of these dynamic kids along the course.

Website could use a course profile. One was promised but never appeared. I wrote organizers for one and never heard back from them.

At the end of the race, I was handed a bottle of water and a bottle of 'gatorade' from two separate volunteers. Some how the gatorade bottle fell but the volunteer made no effort to pick it up for me (bending not an easy task after running 26.2 miles).

Sheraton was very convenient to stay. Walked to the start 15 minutes before gun time.

Overall I recommend Sioux Falls for anyone needing to check South Dakota off their list.

I've run in 7 previous marathons of various sizes including Twin Cities, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, Charlotte, and El Paso. I'm generally not a huge fan of small races because I finish typically around the 4:45 mark and that leaves me running alone a lot of the time. But this race was a great experience despite the small size. Had I put in a little more mileage before the race, it would've even been a PR. Here's a breakdown of my opinions about the various aspects of the race:

Registration/website - this was the first year of the full marathon, but the website is still "siouxfallshalfmarathon." This somewhat confused me at first but otherwise the website was easy to navigate. I couldn't get the course maps to print correctly though.

Pre-race Communications - I received periodic emails in the weeks leading up to the race. They were generally helpful and I had no additional questions.

Packet Pickup - there was no expo, just packet pickup at a Scheel's store. Took fewer than 5 minutes to get my packet. They will want to change the location in the future if the race expands. Printed course maps would have been nice too.

Host Hotel (Sheraton) - very nice hotel, great price, right across the street from the start! The marathon starts early (6:45) so I was even able to sneak back into the hotel and shower even though I didn't get there early enough to get on the late check-out list.

Course - it is billed as relatively flat and I think that was mostly accurate. I think I was actually expecting something more flat. There were no dramatic changes in elevation but there were slight uphills and downhills. I think that is a good thing though (good for the quads). Compared to the other South Dakota marathon options out west in the hills, this is about as flat as you'll get. The second half of the marathon course was more scenic than the first half. The first half included a boring stretch along a levee, and running past both the airport and a prison. The second half was unexpectedly lovely though - we ran through downtown and several parks including a beautiful area with waterfalls.

Volunteers/water stops - the volunteers were phenomenal. Pretty sure they had every high school student in the city of Sioux Falls volunteering at this race! And they all clapped and cheered as we ran by every water stop and the major intersections. As another reviewer mentioned, there was a group of very enthusiastic guys at the 20-mile mark and that was a lot of fun. Even though the spectators were sparse, the volunteers more than made up for it. There were water stops approximately every 2 to 2.5 miles with both water and Gatorade at each. No gels that I noticed.

Post-race amenities - the finish line actually had a good number of spectators. The food wasn't anything amazing. I think there were bagels, bananas, cookies, water and PowerAde. They had computers to look up your finish time. One of the best parts of the finish was the race is small enough that spectators can park literally right next to the finish line. The finish is not within walking distance of the start. They had shuttles but I didn't use them because I had people meet me at the finish.

Swag - for the marathon, we received a gray short-sleeved shirt. Pretty plain, but on the bright side, it wasn't cotton. The finish medal was nice... but it doesn't have the date (year) on it!

The weather was absolutely perfect but obviously the weather isn't something you can count on year-to-year.

Overall, this was a great race and a good pick for South Dakota if you're looking for a relatively flat course. They could make a few improvements as I've noted above, but I think you'll be very satisfied if you choose to run this race. A big "thank you" to the volunteers for making this a very nice experience!