2nd Annual Madison Marathon, the highest marathon in America.

I am very happy to announce that the date for the 2nd Annual Madison Marathon, the highest marathon in America, has been set. Please mark your running calendars:

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Just like last year, the race will be run along the Gravelly Range Road at an elevation of well over 9,000 feet. From what our research can uncover, this makes The Madison Marathon the very highest road marathon in the United States. There are some trail runs along ridge tops that are over 10,000 feet, but we cannot find a true road marathon as high as The Madison. We are the highest and, a bit of bias here, the most beautiful marathon course in America.

For those of you who ran the race last year, the course will be only slightly different and, we hope, better and much more interesting. The start of the race will be near Black Butte Mountain (elevation: 10,587) and there will be a straight 13.1 mile shot to Clover Meadows for the half marathoners. The full and team marathoners will continue on towards Crocket Lake and then make a turn-around back to Clover Meadows for the finish. If you recall last year, all runners started at Clover Meadows and ran an out and back route.

There are a few reasons we think this race will be better than last year’s race:

1. We learned a lot from our first experience. Thank you everyone for sending us your comments, ideas, suggestions, and frank criticism on how to manage a marathon. We heard you.

2. The new route will be a straight shot for the half marathon runners and an almost straight shot for the team and full marathon runners. This will mean a lot more new and beautiful scenery to enjoy.


3. The race will be run in early August so the wild flowers which are absolutely incredible on the Gravelly Range will hopefully still be in bloom (unlike last year when we ran the race over Labor Day Weekend and winter was just around the corner). This may not only be the “highest” marathon in America, but also the most “colorful.”

4. The course will be a south to north route so the prevailing winds, which usually come from the south, will be at your backs if it is a windy day. Those of you who ran last year’s race no doubt remember the wind.

5. All runners will be able to run past Black Butte Mountain, a truly incredible site, and also peak out at Monument Ridge which is the highest point on the course at 9,587 feet.

6. Since we are starting now, we will have more time to market and organize this race. We basically winged it last year since we truly did not know what we were doing and did not get our National Forest Service Permit until July. So, we hope to have a better managed race with more runners. Almost all of you said that you would run again so I really hope you do and that you bring several friends with you. We want this marathon to become a premier race in the Northwest.


That’s it for now. We will have on-line sign up on active.com starting in a few months. The race will be limited to the first 200 runners. You will all be notified when we’re ready to sign runners up with a financial incentive to sign up early.

In the interim, feel free to give me a call at anytime (406-682-5923) with any questions or suggestion that you may have. At this time, the route is under several feet of snow and the road does not open until July, but I know the terrain pretty well.

So, please put this date on your event calendars. The Highest Marathon in America will be here before you know it.

Happy Training.


Sam Korsmoe
Madison Marathon Race Director

Sam Korsmoe
Executive Director - Madison County Economic Development Council
PO Box 365 Virginia City, MT 59755
O: 406-682-5923 F: 406-682-4564 C: 406-570-4531
Website: www.madcoedc.org www.MontanaBlack.org