What's the FLATTEST/FASTEST certified Marathon Course?

There are literally hundreds of dead flat marathon courses.

The erie marathon in erie PA. There are two or three 10' hills, the rest being flat. REALLY flat. It might be too flat for a marathon. The course is pretty scenic, on a peninsula out into lake erie. I stop an run there when i drive through, though I've not done the race yet.

What was the point of bumping a five year old thread? More importantly, how the did you even find this five year old thread to feel the need to bump it? Its not like you could do it by accident. Did you think people were waiting on a response?

Zoom Yah Yah indoor marathon has to be the flattest marathon course in the country. Zero elevation change from start to finish. No wind or rain and constant 60 degrees every year.

You mention Green Bay marathon as a good course for not having huge numbers of spectators. What are some other good ones in this respect? In Europe?

Marathon of the Palm Beaches

West Palm Beach, Florida (December)

Make your own course up by kipping like Kip does it

Register for the road race then pin the top two holes of your bib number and let the bottom two holes just dangle over your nutsack. Cover it with a longsleeve tee long enough to fall and cover the bib number. Dress casually at the start as though youre not really racing. After the gun goes off wait until 4mins pass. Walk casually across starting line Slip off the course. Strip outfit and Reenter race at mile 23. Jog it in. Keep careful track of time and Make sure not to cross finish too soon or you might get caught for an unrealistic net time.

tri again wrote:

jersey shore marathon - no elevation changes (flat as a pancake) start to finish

whole course at sea level = rich air

one word: HEADWIND

Sauvie's Island Foot Traffic Flat Half and Full Marathon on July 4th in Portland, OR. Dead pool-table flat. Lots of downhill courses mentioned on this thread but the OP asked for flat. Portland Marathon is fairly quick too in October.

pregnant girlfriend wrote:

What was the point of bumping a five year old thread? More importantly, how the did you even find this five year old thread to feel the need to bump it? Its not like you could do it by accident. Did you think people were waiting on a response?

Just a guess, but probably someone used the search function and either didn't notice or didn't care that the thread was old. I like it when old threads like this get bumped. Reminds me about the good ol' days when posts were actually quality talk about running.

I have run marathons in 12 cities. Gold Coast is very flat, so is Dubai. Dubai roads are much wider too.

Shiner wrote:

Austin has fastest course in the world (Association of Road Race Statisticians, 2005. Average RaceTime Bias-Marathons).

Go to

http://www.mattoleriver.com/TB_Mara.htm

to see the statistic.

Austin has a 433 ft. net drop with only 24 turns and long straight-aways. The weather is generally mild (60F high-45F low averages).

Austin drastically changed the course several years ago.

It is now hilly and slowish.

The prior course was net downhill but the long declines were so gradual as to be un-noticeable and there were several uphills for shaking out the quads. I have no idea why the course was changed, especially since the directors catered to olympic developement athletes by comping registration and board.

I read the remaining posts and would add that race time bias is based upon elite performances and seeks to predict how much faster or slower a course would be than the flat standard which turns out to be Chicago.

Check out arrs.net and click on marathons comparison then race time bias. There should also be an explanation of their methodology.

Also, Hamburg is a big time event with a very fast, pleasantly rolling course.

USATF.org has a running routes search engine that contains the amount of uphill and downhill for each marathon course.

I've found the total amount of uphill to be the most consistent measure for predicting the difficulty of a marathon course with the fastest routes usually having 250 to 500 feet of incline and slow course like the Pig and Pittsburgh being near 1000 feet or better.

Quicker but not blazing events like Columbus go up about 500 feet.

East west orientation(wind), average temps and so on must also be factored.

Why hasn't the monumental indianapolis marathon in this list-super flat

anand wrote:

I have run marathons in 12 cities. Gold Coast is very flat, so is Dubai. Dubai roads are much wider too.

2nd for gold Coast. The best course I have ever run.

Linz is perfectly flat too

Greater Manchester Marathon is the flattest in the UK.

55m