The fastest marathon courses, ranked
36 US marathons ordered by verified total climbing — the course factor physiology says costs you the most. Net drop, BQ adjustments, and race-morning weather shown alongside, because flat is not the whole story.
| # | Race | Climbing | Net drop | BQ adjustment | Race-morning temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mountains 2 Beach Marathon Ventura, California | 40 ftverified | 690 ft down | None | 55°F avg |
| 2 | Erie Marathon at Presque Isle Erie, Pennsylvania | 84 ftverified | 3 ft up | None | 65°F avg |
| 3 | Skagit Flats Marathon Burlington, Washington | 93 ftverified | 2 ft up | None | 57°F avg |
| 4 | OC Marathon Newport Beach to Costa Mesa, California | 150 ftverified | 75 ft down | None | 57°F avg |
| 5 | Napa Valley Marathon Napa, California | 170 ftverified | 339 ft down | None | 40°F avg |
| 6 | REVEL Mt Charleston Marathon Las Vegas, Nevada | 186 ftverified | 5,098 ft down | +10:00 | 31°F avg |
| 7 | Chicago Marathon Chicago, Illinois | 187 ftverified | 10 ft up | None | 54°F avg |
| 8 | Tokyo Marathon Tokyo, Japan | 198 ftverified | 124 ft down | None | 40°F avg |
| 9 | Berlin Marathon Berlin, Germany | 241 ftverified | Flat | None | 53°F avg |
| 10 | London Marathon London, United Kingdom | 246 ftverified | 130 ft down | None | 49°F avg |
| 11 | Avenue of the Giants Marathon Humboldt Redwoods, California | 250 ftverified | 2 ft down | None | 46°F avg |
| 12 | Tunnel Light Marathon North Bend, Washington | 267 ftverified | 2,050 ft down | +5:00 | 57°F avg |
| 13 | REVEL Big Bear Marathon Big Bear, California | 280 ftverified | 5,084 ft down | +10:00 | 47°F avg |
| 14 | Long Beach Marathon Long Beach, California | 470 ftverified | 3 ft up | None | 58°F avg |
| 15 | Eugene Marathon Eugene, Oregon | 487 ftverified | 2 ft up | None | 45°F avg |
| 16 | Richmond Marathon Richmond, Virginia | 490 ftverified | 150 ft down | None | 49°F avg |
| 17 | Missoula Marathon Missoula, Montana | 492 ftverified | 35 ft down | None | 53°F avg |
| 18 | St. George Marathon St. George, Utah | 500 ftverified | 2,559 ft down | +5:00 | 53°F avg |
| 19 | Twin Cities Marathon Minneapolis & St. Paul, Minnesota | 576 ftverified | 46 ft up | None | 55°F avg |
| 20 | Honolulu Marathon Honolulu, Hawaii | 641 ftverified | 20 ft up | None | 71°F avg |
| 21 | Philadelphia Marathon Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 651 ftverified | Flat | None | 37°F avg |
| 22 | California International Marathon (CIM) Sacramento, California | 663 ftverified | 366 ft down | None | 46°F avg |
| 23 | Marine Corps Marathon Arlington, Virginia & Washington, D.C. | 699 ftverified | 125 ft up | None | 50°F avg |
| 24 | Carlsbad Marathon Carlsbad, California | 782 ftverified | 10 ft up | None | 50°F avg |
| 25 | Santa Rosa Marathon Santa Rosa, California | 800 ftverified | 10 ft up | None | 56°F avg |
| 26 | New York City Marathon New York, New York | 810 ftverified | 65 ft up | None | 45°F avg |
| 27 | Boston Marathon Boston, Massachusetts | 815 ftverified | 480 ft down | None | 45°F avg |
| 28 | Portland Marathon Portland, Oregon | 873 ftverified | 5 ft down | None | 49°F avg |
| 29 | Los Angeles Marathon Los Angeles, California | 943 ftverified | 240 ft down | None | 52°F avg |
| 30 | Akron Marathon Akron, Ohio | 989 ftverified | 40 ft down | None | 57°F avg |
| 31 | Sydney Marathon Sydney, Australia | 1,027 ftverified | 95 ft down | None | 53°F avg |
| 32 | Charlotte Marathon Charlotte, North Carolina | 1,044 ftverified | 10 ft up | None | 47°F avg |
| 33 | The San Francisco Marathon San Francisco, California | 1,303 ftverified | 15 ft up | None | 57°F avg |
| 34 | Publix Atlanta Marathon Atlanta, Georgia | 1,811 ftverified | 70 ft up | None | 46°F avg |
| 35 | Big Sur International Marathon Big Sur, California | 2,182 ftverified | 60 ft down | None | 51°F avg |
| 36 | Blue Ridge Marathon Roanoke, Virginia | 7,430 ftverified | 10 ft down | None | 49°F avg |
How the ranking works
Ranked by total climbing. The energy cost of running rises steeply with gradient — treadmill research going back to Minetti et al. (Journal of Applied Physiology, 2002) shows uphill running costs far more than flat running, while downhill running is metabolically cheaper. Of everything a course profile tells you, cumulative ascent is the strongest predictor of how slow a course runs.
Verified courses only. Elevation figures marked as estimates on our guides are fine for describing a course but cannot support ordering one course against another, so estimated courses are excluded rather than ranked with an asterisk.
Net drop is shown, not scored. A big net descent is genuinely fast — but it pounds the quads through eccentric loading, which is why steep descents need specific training, and the B.A.A. now adds 5 or 10 minutes to qualifying times from steep net-downhill courses. The BQ column prices that in.
Weather can overrule the ranking. In a multi-year study of marathon pacing, the fastest men ran 1.7% slower than the course record in the coolest conditions and 4.5% slower in the warmest; a London Marathon analysis found roughly 2.8% slower for every 5°C above 12°C. A flat course on a hot morning can easily run slower than a hilly one in the cold — check the race-morning column.
Pacing still matters more. A Strava analysis of thousands of Boston-qualifying attempts found that even pacing predicted success better than course elevation did. Pick a fast course, then run it evenly.
References
- Minetti et al., “Energy cost of walking and running at extreme uphill and downhill slopes,” J Appl Physiol 93:1039–1046, 2002 — via a 2025 review of uphill and downhill running.
- Ely et al., “Effect of ambient temperature on marathon pacing is dependent on runner ability” — ResearchGate.
- “Performance and thermal perceptions of runners competing in the London Marathon,” Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021 — MDPI.
- Strava analysis of Boston-qualifying attempts — Women's Running.
- B.A.A. qualifying standards and net-downhill rule — baa.org.
Narrow it to two
Put any two races head to head on climbing, weather, and the BQ adjustment.
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