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MarathonSplits.
🇺🇸 New York City Marathon

Elevation rankings

Flattest & hilliest marathons, ranked

We measured every course we track from its actual GPX file — not race-day marketing copy — to rank the 58 marathons by total climbing, from the flattest PR courses to the toughest climbs.

Best for a PR

Flattest marathons

Ranked by combined climbing + descending over the full course — the least elevation change from start to finish.

  1. 1Chicago MarathonMajorChicago, IL↑5m↓6m
    11m total climb
  2. 2Miami MarathonMiami, FL↑23m↓23m
    46m total climb
  3. 3Walt Disney World MarathonLake Buena Vista, FL↑24m↓24m
    48m total climb
  4. 4Houston MarathonHouston, TX↑30m↓26m
    56m total climb
  5. 5Berlin MarathonMajorBerlin, Germany↑29m↓28m
    57m total climb
  6. 6Seville MarathonSeville, Spain↑34m↓34m
    68m total climb
  7. 7Frankfurt MarathonFrankfurt, Germany↑43m↓42m
    85m total climb
  8. 8Rotterdam MarathonRotterdam, Netherlands↑52m↓47m
    99m total climb

Toughest courses

Hilliest marathons

Ranked by total climbing. These are the courses where an elevation-adjusted pace plan matters most.

  1. 1Athens MarathonAthens, Greece↑289m↓230m
    519m total climb
  2. 2Sydney MarathonMajorSydney, Australia↑198m↓265m
    463m total climb
  3. 3Hong Kong MarathonHong Kong↑226m↓214m
    440m total climb
  4. 4Tokyo MarathonMajorTokyo, Japan↑195m↓223m
    418m total climb
  5. 5Los Angeles MarathonLos Angeles, CA↑165m↓227m
    392m total climb
  6. 6Boston MarathonMajorBoston, MA↑130m↓260m
    390m total climb
  7. 7Austin MarathonAustin, TX↑187m↓184m
    371m total climb
  8. 8Vancouver MarathonVancouver, BC↑149m↓221m
    370m total climb

See what any of these courses actually do to your pace

Every course above has a full elevation-adjusted split calculator — enter your goal time and see exactly where to slow down and where to make time back, kilometer by kilometer.

Build a split plan

FAQ

What is the flattest marathon in the world?

Of the 58 marathon courses we track by real GPX elevation, Chicago Marathon is the flattest, with only 11m of combined climbing and descending over the full distance. Miami Marathon and Walt Disney World Marathon are close behind.

What is the hilliest major marathon?

Athens Marathon is the hilliest course in our data, with 289m of climbing and a steepest kilometer of 2.6%.

How much does elevation actually change your marathon pace?

A sustained 3% grade costs roughly 15–20 seconds per kilometer at marathon effort, and descents give some — but not all — of that back. That asymmetry is why hilly courses run slower than their total climbing alone suggests, and why an elevation-adjusted pace plan matters more as a course gets hillier.