Fastest/Slowest Marathon Courses (Read 4594 times)

Can’t help with the US ones. But here in New Zealand - Christchurch marathon is supposed to be fast. Plus in Europe - Rotterdam, Berlin and London are all fast.

Hey Steve: You might find this thread interesting. It's sort of related to your question. You may also find it painfully boring. You decide. http://runningahead.com/forums/topic/7593c01d9f06411cb949d2b7b91ee44b The short answer to your question is probably always going to be ... it depends. As you'll see if you read that thread, it doesn't seem that the flattest course is necessarily the fastest. There are some that have a net loss in elevation, some pretty significant - I'd guess those are generally faster. Depending on average temperature, and the elevation above sea level ... and whether any particular runner feels particularly good that day. Internationally, I've heard Rotterdam and Berlin are fast, if you feel like traveling - well, depending on where you live. Here's a few more answers for you. I've heard some of the same things about Steamtown, and a lot of people seem to think Chicago and Austin are fast. I ran Chicago - all I remember is pain, so I'm not the best judge. http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1084414 I'd guess that for slowest marathon, at least among the relatively well-known ones, Pike's Peak would be way up on the list. If I recall correctly, most folks claim it takes at least twice as long plus a little more to run it as to run an average marathon.

Pikes Peak does take time. The ascent portion (the first half) usually takes you 100-150% of your normal marathon time, and the descent (the second half) can take another 40-60% of the ascent time. When I ran it last year, my marathon PR was 3:50. My ascent time at Pikes Peak was 4:17 and my total round trip was 6:48. I came in above the 50th %ile for my division with my 6:48. Yes. It IS 26.2 miles. Slow enough for you?

Thanks everyone, keep 'em coming! Yes JK, I know about that thread (read carefully, and you'll see I am in there too), and it's the reason I started this thread. In order to come up with an algorithm for a course difficulty rating, it would be good to have some races on both ends of the spectrum to test the algorithm against. That why I asked the question...

And this is why we actually read whole threads. To think just today I was mocking poor Trent's reading comprehension skills ...

CIM (California International Marathon) in Sacramento is pretty fast.

CIM in Sacramento, Austin, Chicago are all fast in the US. London, Rotterdam, Berlin are fast. Boston and New York are medium. Big Sur is slow. Steamtown drops 900 feet so is beyond aided. I'm thinking things like Pikes Peak are, to borrow a cylcing expression "beyond category" and can not be compared to "normal" marathon race courses.

heard steamtown and philly are. I've done philly 3 times and am frightfully slow - it must be the course not my lack of training