Toughest Marathon course in the United States

Pikes Peak, bro!

Grandmas Marathon, the grandma will take your money due to covid and won’t refund it. And in normal years Minnesota state law has few protections from price gouging at hotels. So hotels in middle of rust belt can go for 300 per night the weekend of the marathon

LRC VIP BFD wrote:

Pikes Peak, bro!

What's the time cut off? I am from a flat area with no altitude so that would be a tough one for sure!

A poorly worded open ended question, but I’ll bite. The grandfather mountain marathon course has always stood out to me as difficult.

You need to set some parameters on what’s difficult. Key West Marathon is a flat course with good support, but I probably would not be able to finish when the dewpoint is 78. OTOH, grandfather mountain would be excellent weather, and I’d finish. It would take me a long time and I’d be thrashed though.

https://ibb.co/Xs0v1Bw

Mad Marathon both because of elevation changes and also being hot in June.

i would assume some awful mountain/trail based flim flam. Stay away from those granola eating hippies.

keep it on the crete.

Thon time wrote:

LRC VIP BFD wrote:

Pikes Peak, bro!

What's the time cut off? I am from a flat area with no altitude so that would be a tough one for sure!

Never mind about the cutoff. First you gotta qualify.

A half marathon in under 2,5 hours isn’t exactly difficult.

That has to be Pikes Peak Marathon.

euro dude wrote:

A half marathon in under 2,5 hours isn’t exactly difficult.

Pikes Peak has some weird qualifying rules. You can qualify with a slow poke HM or Marathon but a Hardrock 100 finish does not count.

Anyway, a very tough race for any flatlander.

high school xc coach wrote:

i would assume some awful mountain/trail based flim flam. Stay away from those granola eating hippies.

keep it on the crete.

Boring much?

LRC VIP BFD wrote:

Pikes Peak, bro!

Ummm, that's a trail run, bro. Irregardless of the distance, Pike's Peak is still a trail run.

Has anyone considered Preskitt's Whiskey Row?

Thumb Butt wrote:

LRC VIP BFD wrote:

Pikes Peak, bro!

Ummm, that's a trail run, bro. Irregardless of the distance, Pike's Peak is still a trail run.

Has anyone considered Preskitt's Whiskey Row?

What do you expect?

Most Marathons on roads are as flat as possible.

Not a marathon, but are you interested in the world's shortest ultra-marathon? It's not billed like that, but I would imagine at 28.4 miles there probably aren't many ultras that are shorter.

The Quad Dipsea, with 9200 feet of climbing. Very few people have finished it in under 4 hours.

Thumb Butt wrote:

LRC VIP BFD wrote:

Pikes Peak, bro!

Ummm, that's a trail run, bro. Irregardless of the distance, Pike's Peak is still a trail run.

Has anyone considered Preskitt's Whiskey Row?

Irregardless? Are you new to English?

PPM hands down

The Ruidoso Marathon in Ruidoso New Mexico is a tough mostly road marathon:

http://www.ruidosomarathon.com/

This is a 26.2 mile route in Ruidoso, New Mexico United States. The route has a total ascent of 2532.25 feet and has a maximum elevation of 7,504.89 feet. The course is mostly on paved roads or recreational paths. There are some sections on gravel roads.

Go high bro! wrote:

euro dude wrote:

A half marathon in under 2,5 hours isn’t exactly difficult.

Pikes Peak has some weird qualifying rules. You can qualify with a slow poke HM or Marathon but a Hardrock 100 finish does not count.

Anyway, a very tough race for any flatlander.

Is this actually weird? I haven’t done a lot of marathons that require qualifying but I would think half and full marathon times would be a lot more indicative of marathon capability than finishing a 100 miler.