St. Croix Crossing Half Marathon
Stillwater, MN
- Half Marathon, 10K, 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
The St. Croix Crossing Half Marathon, 10K and 5K starts in western Wisconsin and ends in downtown Stillwater, Minnesota – one of America’s most scenic small towns. This diverse course includes scenic tree-lined roads, picturesque farms, the beautiful Loop Trail between Minnesota and Wisconsin and crosses the St. Croix River … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Jul 25):
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| H (°F) | 83 | 77 | 90 | 75 | 90 |
| L (°F) | 61 | 53 | 65 | 52 | 56 |
Find Nearby Lodging (hotel, rental, etc.):
BLAZING FAST
If you want a (cheater) PR in the 5k... run this course. 200ft of loss right down the new St. Croix Crossing bridge into Stillwater, all shaded after about mile … MORE
If you want a (cheater) PR in the 5k… run this course. 200ft of loss right down the new St. Croix Crossing bridge into Stillwater, all shaded after about mile 1.5. This race also brought out some really competitive runners this year as 5 individuals finished below 16, many more below 16:30.
Although I wouldn’t consider this to be my 5k PR, I did improve my time by about 30 seconds due to the downhill. It’s never an uncomfortable downhill and easy to coast if you’re going quick or slow.
Only thing I could do without was the handful of turns in the last 400m.
Vet hot course!
Packet Pick Up: Was held at Water Street Inn. Nothing fancy- just your bib and drink coupon. I learned after the first race in this series it's easiest to just … MORE
Packet Pick Up: Was held at Water Street Inn. Nothing fancy- just your bib and drink coupon. I learned after the first race in this series it’s easiest to just pick up your bib the morning of the race. If you drive a ways to get there it’s nice to use the indoor bathroom facilities before heading to the shuttles.
Shuttle Buses: about 1/4 mile from Water Street Inn. Everyone has a different starting point so specific bus for each distance. Everyone ends at the Lift Bridge. First buses leave around 5:45am.
Start Line: Held behind a BBQ place. There was a outdoor shelter to stand under to get out of the heat. Start itself was nothing fancy-a mat on the ground with start flags. Read-set-go and you are off. It’s best to take one of the earlier shuttles because there was only a handful of porta potties and the line was super long up to the start. This caused a long line for those first couple porta potties on the course and there was literally only 1 potty at each stop on the course. I also only saw 2 pacers at the start so not sure if that was it?
Course: Course itself was pretty but it was a super hot and humid day and it was only shaded the first half and then most of 2nd half you were completely exposed with the sun just beating down on you. This was my 10th half marathon and the only one where I’ve been really scared about heat illness because I couldn’t seem to escape the heat. Water stations were every 2 miles which I appreciated and I would dump a cup on my head and then carried a cooling towel and drenched it at every station and patted myself down. My lower stars were mainly for the overly exposed course. I did however like the small rolling hills of the course because I don’t care for an overly flat course because I can feel very beat up afterwards. I also appreciated how the course was well marked with cones and volunteers at every point on the course where you needed to turn.
Finish Line: The last 1/4 mile you do make a couple turns and then the last jaunt through to the finish strip is very short which I liked. You ended right next to the Lift Bridge. They had water, Gatorade in cups, bananas and chips. There was no shade at the finish line except a couple trees that everyone was standing under. Would have been nice to see a couple canopy tents set up just for people to have a few minutes to get out of the sun. This always drives me nuts at races that have a long stretch of overly exposes course and then you finish and you still can’t get out of the sun unless you just leave the finish area and go into a build.
Overall: I signed up for the series of 5 races but don’t think I would sign up for this one again unless I did it as a last minute sign up and the weather was much cooler. If it was cooler I’d probably have a different review.
Nice small race
Expo - This was a small race, no expo. It was more of a bib and shirt pickup. Shirts exchanged only after the race. We were bused from the Stillwater … MORE
Expo – This was a small race, no expo. It was more of a bib and shirt pickup. Shirts exchanged only after the race. We were bused from the Stillwater Inn in Minnesota to the startline in Wisconsin. It was next a huge corn field. The course was on and along side the road. I would call it rolling hills, but nothing too major. It was doable for me as a walker. There were plenty of aid and water/Gatorade stations. The weather started out nice, but by around 10 a.m., it got hot. The volunteers and emergency staff were great. With the heat being what it was, they were very attentive to our needs as far as hydration and if we were okay.
There were still ripe bananas, chips, water, and Gatorade (much appreciated as a back of the packer) I’m not sure of what else was offered. Great medal! I recommend this race.
Beautiful Course with Gentle Hills
Bus transportation to the race start, but minimal wait times to ride and plenty of people guiding you to the location. Course had a lot of 'rolling hills', which were … MORE
Bus transportation to the race start, but minimal wait times to ride and plenty of people guiding you to the location. Course had a lot of ‘rolling hills’, which were intimidating since I train in a very flat area, but these were very manageable. Roads were all open to cars with dedicated running on the edge but minimal traffic.
Course takes you on back country roads with a mix of green and corn fields which were lovely, then you cross the St. Croix river on a dedicated running/walking path which was gently sloping and easy to navigate. Plenty of volunteers helped guide participants and water stations every 2 miles on the nose was very helpful since the heat was high in 2024.
Overall truly recommend this race. I would absolutely do it again.
Which state do I pick?
Small town vibes. Mostly flat course with some scenic areas. Crossing the bridge was fun. Can count towards MN or WI. Needed more and better stocked aid stations, especially during … MORE
Small town vibes. Mostly flat course with some scenic areas. Crossing the bridge was fun. Can count towards MN or WI. Needed more and better stocked aid stations, especially during humid summer months.
Inaugural Half Marathon WI to MN
This was a brand new race added to the Run Stillwater Series. It started in Hudson, Wisconsin and brought us to the new St Croix Bridge crossing that into Stillwater, … MORE
This was a brand new race added to the Run Stillwater Series. It started in Hudson, Wisconsin and brought us to the new St Croix Bridge crossing that into Stillwater, Minnesota. Very Scenic but by the time we got to the bridge in the 11th mile we were all just about spent in the heat and tons of rolling hills we just ran. It was hard to enjoy the bridge aspect of it. But it was pretty sweet running downhill into Stillwater after all of the hills in Wisconsin. Great Swag – shirt and medal, both are great – love them and certainly did earn them!
Inaugural Race
Thanks to a global pandemic, we haven't produced this race since its debut. in 2022, we're excited to be back on the calendar and grateful to have made it through … MORE
Thanks to a global pandemic, we haven’t produced this race since its debut. in 2022, we’re excited to be back on the calendar and grateful to have made it through the last two years.