The Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon course is flat, fast, and picturesque. The course is certified and is a Boston Qualifier. Many people feel that the trail from Holdingford to St. Joseph is the prettiest portion of the Lake Wobegon Trail. The trail is primarily rural except as it passes through …
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The Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon course is flat, fast, and picturesque. The course is certified and is a Boston Qualifier. Many people feel that the trail from Holdingford to St. Joseph is the prettiest portion of the Lake Wobegon Trail. The trail is primarily rural except as it passes through the four small towns along the route. In a post on the “A Prairie Home Companion” website, Garrison Keillor said this about the Lake Wobegon Trail: “I‘ve biked the bike trail … and love the ordinary beauty of farmland and meadow and the towns along it.”
The Lake Wobegon Trail is a 10 foot wide asphalt bike trail on a former railroad track. The trail is smooth and has no cant. There is very little elevation change at any time along the entire length of the course. You cannot get lost on this course. Runners join the trail after one mile and then simply follow the trail to the finish. There is only one turn on the entire trail where the trail ‘T’s‘ at about 11.2 miles and runners go left at the ‘T’.
The finish line will close after six hours. Water stations will close at intervals of 14 minutes per mile from the start. We do not want to leave runners unsupported on the course. Therefore, runners who are not able to maintain at least a 14 minute mile average pace will be transported to the finish line by volunteers from the next water station. If you do not know whether you will be able to maintain at least a 14 minute mile average pace throughout the race, then unfortunately this is not the race for you.
The race is a running race only. Wheelchairs, hand-cycles, strollers, inline skates, bicycles, etc. are not allowed. Running with pets is not allowed.
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All the love for LWTM!
This is a well put together race with very friendly people, awesome swag, very easy course with pacers & local support! I love that the start is at the high … MORE
This is a well put together race with very friendly people, awesome swag, very easy course with pacers & local support!
I love that the start is at the high school with real bathrooms & indoors!
Great race for spectators to see their favorite runners several times along the course!
Easy parking/easy to get to. Lodging I would say is the only issue. But there is race day packet pick up.
Highly recommend!
Small town marathon with heart!
This is my second time running Lake Wobegon. We had a perfect running day: overcast skies with temps starting in the 40s rising into 60s. I PR'd and BQ'd on … MORE
This is my second time running Lake Wobegon. We had a perfect running day: overcast skies with temps starting in the 40s rising into 60s. I PR’d and BQ’d on this one! This is a small town race with at most 450 runners and executed with a lot of heart. Random thoughts:
– Cost is only $60 if you register by the end of Sept. That’s a steal these days! Cost doubles after that.
– This is a point to point race. Buses take you from the race finish to the race start only before the race (and not after the race).
– The starting location is a high school where you have warm shelter in a large gym. Don’t let a cold MN spring morning scare you away!
– You might consider bringing your own drop bag. I found the one provided this year a little too small to hold my thick sweats so improvised with another bag I brought. Granted we staged in a warm gym so maybe I didn’t need all that.
– If you enjoy bucolic scenery this is the race for you! You are running along farmland, lakes, woods, and small towns. I love it!
– The asphalt trails are in very good condition.
– There aren’t a lot of spectators along the course but those who appear a few times along the course are enthusiastic (as are the cows and sheep).
– There is a timing mat at the start and at the end of the race: I don’t recall any other mats recording splits if that matters to you.
– There are mile markers along the course. My total distance (as well as many I ran with) was around 26.4. There aren’t many turns in this course per se: Mostly it’s running tangents along the trail you need to keep in mind.
– The course has a few gradual uphills and downhills. If you require courses with more variety (e.g., rolling hills, large downhill finish) this is probably not the race for you.
– Water stops are about every 3 miles. Sometimes there aren’t many volunteers at these stops so you need to help yourself to the cups on the table instead of being handed them. And don’t expect the long water stops you see at larger marathons. Here there might be just one table on one side of the trail.
– The volunteers facilitating the race are a joy to work with. Good people!
– The prerace pasta dinner at the local church is done from the heart and meets the need.
– The postrace pizza, drinks, and snacks are a nice way to wind down.
– It is worth noting this race has pacers at BQ standard time AND a few minutes UNDER BQ (this year it was 4 min due to the shifting BQ delta). In the 18 marathons I’ve run I’m hard-pressed to think of any other race that does this. I cannot give enough praise to the awesome pacer I ran with!
Well run marathon on a scenic course
For a smaller marathon, this was one of the better organized ones that I've run. The race swag was fantastic. For their 10th running, they gave out free hooded, lined, … MORE
For a smaller marathon, this was one of the better organized ones that I’ve run. The race swag was fantastic. For their 10th running, they gave out free hooded, lined, and vented jackets to the marathon registrants. We also received a finisher’s shirt, a pair of gloves, a nice medal, and a swag bag. The had a pasta feed the day before that didn’t appear to be very well attended, but it was a good value. The course did have a lot of gradual uphill inclines, but no steep uphills. The downside was that there weren’t very many downhills steep enough to really take advantage of gravity. It was scenic and we went through a covered bridge near the beginning of the course. All in all a great race.
Small Midwestern Race, Large in Charm!
If running amid midwestern landscapes invigorates you, this is the race for you! I ran this yesterday for the first time after running 14 other marathons domestic and international. Registration … MORE
If running amid midwestern landscapes invigorates you, this is the race for you! I ran this yesterday for the first time after running 14 other marathons domestic and international. Registration was capped at 450. It’s a paved trail mostly tree-lined and partially shaded. The course is reasonably flat and passes thru four small towns. I never felt crowded on the trail. Race organizers did a nice job of putting this together. Before the race we were able to stage inside the gym of a local school (vs sitting outside). There were sufficient water stops along the way and other runners were always in view. I was pleasantly surprised at how much crowd support there was along the course given how small this race was. Weather started low 50s and climbed into the 70s towards the end, which became a challenge. (Anecdotally I heard last years race had temps start in the 20s and climb to the low 40s!) A nice race shirt and medal were our rewards. It’s very likely I’ll run this again.