⏵ Course guide · Black Hills, South Dakota
Run Crazy Horse starts at the base of the Crazy Horse Memorial carving and finishes on Main Street in Hill City, running most of its distance on the smooth, scenic Mickelson Trail through the Black Hills. I will walk you through the marathon, half marathon, and relay course profiles, then give you a pacing plan built for a course that climbs out to Custer before it turns downhill for home. There is a free calculator along the way to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official race site. Check the current year details before you commit. Race logistics can change year to year.
Three events share a start at Crazy Horse Memorial and diverge from there, each with a different shape once they hit the Mickelson Trail.
All three events begin at the Crazy Horse Memorial Visitor's Center. The first 3 miles run on paved and gravel roads inside the Memorial grounds, passing the old schoolhouse and looping to the bus turnaround at the base of the carving itself, a genuinely unique opening few marathons can offer, before the course joins the Mickelson Trail.
From mile 3, half marathoners follow the Mickelson Trail with the last 10 miles a mixture of downhill and flat terrain, finishing on Main Street in Hill City in front of the Bumpin' Buffalo. It is a genuinely fast-feeling back half once the early climbing out of the Memorial grounds is behind you.
Full marathoners and relay teams continue past mile 3 on the Mickelson Trail to a turnaround in Custer around mile 16, then run the same downhill stretch back into Hill City from mile 16 to the finish. The relay splits this course into legs 5 to 7 miles apart, so no single runner has to manage the full out-and-back climb and descent alone.
The marathon's shape rewards patience on the way out to Custer so you have legs left for the downhill return, while half runners get to bank time on the back half instead.
The out-and-back structure means every uphill step on the way to Custer is a downhill step you will take again on the way back, so resist the urge to push the outbound leg. Run miles 3 to 16 by effort rather than pace, and save your legs for the downhill stretch home.
With the last 10 miles mostly downhill or flat, a half marathoner who paces the first 3 miles through the Memorial grounds conservatively can genuinely pick up the pace once the Mickelson Trail turns favorable, rather than needing an even-split strategy.
⏵ Free tool to plan your effort
Use the race-time calculator to turn a recent race result into a realistic finish-time target, then the race-equivalent calculator to see how a flatter course result translates to this one.
Keep it simple for a marathon in the 3 to 6 hour range, and lean on the aid stations along the Mickelson Trail rather than carrying everything yourself.
Aim for roughly 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour, more toward the higher end if you are racing for time. With most of the course above a mile high in the Black Hills and an early-October date, dress in layers for a cool start and drink to thirst as the day warms.
Browse the rest of the free running tools, including the ultra fueling calculator for a deeper build, at the tools hub.
⏵ Train for it with Summit Line
Get a training plan built around YOUR fitness and the out-and-back climb to Custer this course demands. Summit Line reads your real training, builds the uphill strength and downhill legs this race asks for, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
Both the marathon and half marathon start at the Crazy Horse Memorial Visitor's Center. The first 3 miles run through the Memorial grounds on paved and gravel roads, passing the old schoolhouse and looping to the bus turnaround at the base of the Crazy Horse carving, before joining the Mickelson Trail. Half marathoners then run a mostly downhill-to-flat final 10 miles into Hill City, finishing on Main Street. Full marathoners instead continue out on the Mickelson Trail to a turnaround in Custer around mile 16, then run the same downhill final stretch back into Hill City.
It is a 5-person team relay that follows the same course as the full marathon, with exchange points spaced 5 to 7 miles apart (exact distances are posted on the race's relay information page). It is a good way to experience the Crazy Horse Memorial start and the Custer out-and-back without any one runner covering the full 26.2 miles.
The Mickelson Trail surface itself is smooth and non-technical, but the marathon's out-and-back structure means real climbing on the way out to the Custer turnaround before a net-downhill return, all above a mile high in the Black Hills. The half marathon is more forgiving, front-loaded with a short paved/gravel stretch through the Memorial grounds and then mostly downhill or flat the rest of the way to Hill City.
The official race pages I checked do not publish a specific finish-line cutoff time. Bus transportation and shuttle service are provided from the finish back to Crazy Horse Memorial after the race, which suggests a generous window, but confirm the current year's exact cutoff on the official race information before you commit to a goal time.
The half marathon is a genuinely approachable first trail half: a short paved/gravel opening through the Memorial grounds, then a mostly downhill Mickelson Trail run into Hill City. The full marathon is a bigger step up, with real out-and-back climbing to Custer before the downhill return, so it rewards runners who have trained on rolling or uphill terrain rather than treating the smooth trail surface as a guarantee of an easy day.
The Fast 5K and Kids 1K run Saturday, October 3, a point-to-point, all-downhill event on the Mickelson Trail that benefits the American Heart Association. The marathon, half marathon, and 5-person relay all start Sunday, October 4 at 8:00 AM from the Crazy Horse Memorial Visitor's Center, with bus transportation provided from the Host Hotel, Palmer Gulch, and downtown Hill City.
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<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/run-crazy-horse-marathon">The Run Crazy Horse Marathon course guide</a><iframe src="https://runsummitline.com/embed/race/run-crazy-horse-marathon" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:180px;border:0;" loading="lazy" title="Run Crazy Horse Marathon course guide by Summit Line"></iframe>This guide is independent and for planning only. The course, cutoffs, and dates come from public sources and can change year to year, so confirm the current specifics with the official race before you register or run. The fueling and pacing advice is general and not medical advice.
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