Scenic, rural Wisconsin. Great race support- busses to the start, well stocked water stations, nice finish line party. We camped a few days ahead in the Porcupine mountains which are so beautiful! We also recommend checking out the Copper Falls state park just a few miles way.

Very fun hilly race. Spectators were excellent and all volunteers were friendly. First half everyone is very talkative and friendly. Second half the hills start getting bigger. Fans in Hurley at the Finnish line were great. Plus the 'Finnish' stew made by the locals was delicious. I will for sure run this race again and recommend it to anyone looking for a scenic friendly race.

This marathon was an absolute pleasure as marathons go. The course is beautiful but mildly hilly, the temperature and weather couldn't have been better. The organization appeared to be very good to me.

The medal is good and the shirt has an excellent design and quality but is much too small for the listed size.

This marathon is definitely worth doing- I highly recommend it!

This is a perennial northwoods runner favorite. I've heard great things about participants having a quite the time off the course as well as on it. The course is hilly, with an up-hill near the finish. It was a hot one - I suspect it usually is. No question about it - ice helps. There are only a few marathons besides this one that I would consider running more than once; the running community in northern WI (including the UP and MN) is friendly, inviting and supportive. And some really like to race.
This was my 6th marathon.

Arrived in Hurley in time for registration and the pasta meal. At registration they did not have my pre-registration on their spreadsheet, but they did have a hard copy in their master paper file, so all was good. The pasta meal was very good with plenty of pasta and sauce. The runners' packet was full of useful information about the weekend events, not just the marathon. Saturday, I arrived early for the ride to the start. It was a short, 15-minute ride. Once at the start, I took a tour of Upson - a nice, small village - to keep from being bored, and on the move from the mosquitos.

The course was fairly hilly, but not exceptionally challenging. Still, few PR's would be set on it, I believe. The race was well supported by some of the friendliest volunteers I have found anywhere. At the start of the race the temperature was comfortable (in the mid-60's); by 10 a.m. it was in the upper 70's; and it was over 80 by noon. The support stations after mile 13 all had bags of ice, which was super!

One criticism is when the race came off of County Road E onto Rt. 77 at about mile 7, the runners' lane was on the right side of the road. There was a fair amount of traffic on Rt .77, and I was very uncomfortable having them approach from my back. This leg was about 6 miles long and it was the only leg that had this unfortunate condition. Once the race turned onto County Road C, runners ran on the left for the remainder of the race. The finish area was excellent, and the food and post-race stuff was great. Nice finisher's medal and shirt. I met several runners who run this event every year. If it were closer to where I live, I would as well. Great destination race if you have never been to the northwoods area.

It was a hot and muggy day in Hurley. The aid station crews were very attentive and right there with the ice, sponges, and drinks - even after waiting for over five hours for us late-comers to plod on through. The after-race award ceremony was fun; they had a good announcer. There's a nice mall-town ambience and atmosphere. Small venue - my kind of race. Spectators are sparse, but those in attendance along the route were very supportive. Rolling hills throughout the route. They ran out of shirts for us stragglers, and the medals had the wrong event year - 40th instead of 41st - but I think that the race director and chamber people plan to fix both of those issues.

I thought the course was very challenging and the hills would never end. The aid stations and spectators along the route were excellent and made the day. I was extremely impressed with the people at the aid stations, starting line and finishing line. They all wanted to do everything possible to make your day and long, slow run go well.

The only drawback was the new starting point, but since it was only for this year, there's no sense in discussing it.

Let me say first off that the porta-janes on the course were relatively clean and spaced out nicely throughout the race. I should know because I used every single one of them (plus going twice in the woods). I'm still not sure why this happened to me, but it might have something to do with the 2.5 Creamy Dark Leinenkugels I had the night before. Take my advice: save the Leinies for AFTER the race.

I loved the spectators at this race! I have never had so many folks thank ME for running. The people of Hurley truly love this race. I thought the course was relaxing and scenic. Despite my running problems, I have fabulous memories from this race.

People went out of their way to make us welcome and to make sure that we had fluids all day, even the last finishers. Great organization. Disappointed they dropped us slower finishers (20+) from the finishers' list.

This year was the 40th running of the Paavo Nurmi Marathon. Hurley put on a great show. The pasta dinner was delicious. The torch-lighting ceremony was inspiring. The course was scenic, through rural northern Wisconsin. It was hilly. Don't expect a PR. Just expect great fun.