Flattest marathon courses
Total ascent is the single best predictor of how much a course will cost you beyond the flat-ground equivalent. These are the courses that ask for the least of it. Two caveats worth holding onto: elevation figures come from a digital elevation model, so genuinely flat urban courses can read 20–30 ft high from GPS and DEM noise alone, and a flat course is not automatically a fast one — wind, field size, road surface and start-corral congestion all matter, and none of them show up in an elevation profile.
The ranking
| # | Course | Location | Measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tokyo Marathon | Tokyo | 170 ft (50 m) of climbing |
| 2 | Amsterdam Marathon | Amsterdam | 200 ft (60 m) of climbing |
| 3 | Detroit Free Press Marathon | Detroit, MI | 210 ft (60 m) of climbing |
| 4 | Chicago Marathon | Chicago, IL | 230 ft (70 m) of climbing |
| 5 | Berlin Marathon | Berlin | 230 ft (70 m) of climbing |
| 6 | Osaka Marathon | Osaka | 240 ft (70 m) of climbing |
| 7 | Valencia Marathon | Valencia | 260 ft (80 m) of climbing |
| 8 | Mesa Marathon | Mesa, AZ | 260 ft (80 m) of climbing |
| 9 | Chevron Houston Marathon | Houston, TX | 270 ft (80 m) of climbing |
| 10 | Manchester Marathon | Manchester | 340 ft (100 m) of climbing |
| 11 | Bayshore Marathon | Traverse City, MI | 350 ft (110 m) of climbing |
| 12 | Barcelona Marathon | Barcelona | 350 ft (110 m) of climbing |
| 13 | Toronto Marathon | Toronto, ON | 380 ft (120 m) of climbing |
| 14 | London Marathon | London | 410 ft (120 m) of climbing |
| 15 | Honolulu Marathon | Honolulu, HI | 440 ft (140 m) of climbing |
| 16 | Paris Marathon | Paris | 520 ft (160 m) of climbing |
| 17 | Grandma's Marathon | Duluth, MN | 530 ft (160 m) of climbing |
| 18 | California Marathon | Sacramento, CA | 590 ft (180 m) of climbing |
| 19 | Twin Cities Marathon | Minneapolis, MN | 680 ft (210 m) of climbing |
| 20 | Philadelphia Marathon | Philadelphia, PA | 740 ft (230 m) of climbing |
Frequently asked questions
Flattest marathon courses: which is number one?
Tokyo Marathon — 170 ft (50 m) of climbing. The full ranking covers 20 courses and is computed from each course's own elevation profile rather than from race organiser claims.
How are these rankings calculated?
From the elevation profile of each course, built from GPX traces and digital elevation models, clipped to the official 42.195 km. Elevation figures carry roughly ±5–10 m of DEM noise, so small differences between flat courses are measurement error rather than a meaningful gap.
Other course rankings
- Every marathon course compared — all of them in one sortable table.
- The hilliest marathon courses — Courses ranked by total elevation gain, most first.
- Net-downhill marathon courses — Courses ranked by net elevation change, biggest drop first.
- The hardest marathon courses, ranked by difficulty — Every course rated 1–5 on climbing, descent and altitude.
- Marathons with the hardest finish — Courses whose toughest stretch lands after 30 km, ranked by how hard it bites.
- World Marathon Majors by elevation: flattest to hilliest — Every Major course, ranked flattest to hilliest.
- The biggest marathons by field size — Courses ranked by the number of runners on the start line.