The course runs along Thiel Road and River Road, following the Yellowstone River for most of the route. It is flat and quick underfoot, with open views of the river and the wildlife along its banks. The race also serves as the USATF state championship for Montana, so the field tends to draw serious competitors alongside recreational runners.
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Going by the 2026 results, this is a small, friendly field, and the spread of finish times is wide, so this is a mostly recreational race rather than one for club runners.
Top 3: Brayden Lamanna (15:20) · Trajn Swalstad (16:52) · Oliver Brown (17:16)
Top 3: Peyton Summers (1:11:25) · Justin Zahn (1:24:04) · Anthony Nitti (1:26:23)
Top 3: Trenton Smith (38:14) · Collins Russell (38:38) · Hunter Farris (39:02)
The Big Sky State Games Road Race has been held every year since at least 2014. That is as far back as RunSignup's records for this race go, so it may well be older.
Enter a finish time to see where it lands against the most recent 3.1 Miles results.
How we calculate these stats: RunSesh calculates these figures from the most recent published results of past editions, sourced from RunSignup. We show aggregates only: field size, winning and median times, and the cutoff. We never publish individual finisher tables. Last updated Nov 12, 2026.
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Not sure what to aim for? The 5K pace chart lists the pace for every finish time.
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Almost certainly not. Half the 3.1 Miles field finished slower than 29:10, and the last recorded finisher came in around 1:20:17, so there is a long tail of runners behind the middle of the pack. Most fields are far slower than people expect.
It is a small race (155 finishers), which is friendlier and less intimidating than a big-city event, though the field thins out. There is no qualifying time, and the finish-time spread above shows how varied the field really is. If it is your first 3.1 Miles, that spread matters more than the winner's time.
The 3.1 Miles winner ran 15:20 while the median finisher took 29:10. That spread points to a broad, mostly recreational field rather than a race dominated by club runners.
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