What is the hardest/hilliest marathon of a major US city

This is a very easy question if we limit it to the flagship marathon of major us cities. It is the San Francisco marathon. You might think it would be Denver because of the altitude, but I promise you that if you run San Fran you'll wish you were in Denver if your goal is a fast time.

Baltimore. Massive hills and most of it is in the hood

Top 50 metro areas and their marathons. Thanks to GPT.

New York City, NY: TCS New York City Marathon
Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Marathon
Chicago, IL: Bank of America Chicago Marathon
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX: BMW Dallas Marathon
Houston, TX: Chevron Houston Marathon
Washington, D.C.: Marine Corps Marathon
Miami, FL: Miami Marathon
Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Marathon
Atlanta, GA: Atlanta Marathon
Boston, MA: Boston Marathon
Phoenix, AZ: Phoenix Marathon
San Francisco, CA: San Francisco Marathon
Riverside-San Bernardino, CA: The Mission Inn Run
Detroit, MI: Detroit Free Press/TCF Bank Marathon
Seattle, WA: Seattle Marathon
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN: Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon
San Diego, CA: San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon
Tampa, FL: Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic
Denver, CO: Colfax Marathon
St. Louis, MO: GO! St. Louis Marathon
Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Running Festival
Charlotte, NC: Novant Health Charlotte Marathon
Orlando, FL: OUC Orlando Half Marathon
San Antonio, TX: San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon
Portland, OR: Portland Marathon
Sacramento, CA: California International Marathon
Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh Marathon
Las Vegas, NV: Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon
Cincinnati, OH: Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon
Kansas City, MO: Kansas City Marathon
Austin, TX: Ascension Seton Austin Marathon
Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Marathon
Indianapolis, IN: OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon
Columbus, OH: Nationwide Children's Hospital Columbus Marathon
San Jose, CA: Silicon Valley Half Marathon
Nashville, TN: St. Jude Rock 'n' Roll Nashville Marathon
Virginia Beach, VA: Yuengling Shamrock Marathon
Providence, RI: Providence Marathon
Milwaukee, WI: Milwaukee Marathon
Jacksonville, FL: Ameris Bank Jacksonville Marathon
Memphis, TN: St. Jude Memphis Marathon
Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon
Louisville, KY: Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon
Hartford, CT: Eversource Hartford Marathon
Richmond, VA: Richmond Marathon
New Orleans, LA: Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Marathon
Buffalo, NY: Buffalo Marathon
Raleigh, NC: Raleigh City of Oaks Marathon
Birmingham, AL: Birmingham Marathon
Salt Lake City, UT: Salt Lake City Marathon

Going off findmymarathon.com San Fran has 1365 ft of gain whereas Baltimore has 977. New York City by comparison has only 810. San Fran ftw

Can you ask GPT for the elevations of them all? That may save some time here

This is definitely a tough one but it's easier than the old course that ran out to Loch Raven Reservoir and back.

I don't know what the current configuration for the Atlanta course is but the original course that ran thru the Paces Ferry area was a nightmare; nothing but big hills. The course used for the '96 Olympics is the hilliest Olympic course.

Atlanta 1370 ft of gain!! San Fran goes home devastated

Atlanta may have more elevation total, but SF is harder based on the nature and timing of the hills. Definitely SF is a slower course based on a bunch of metrics and typical performances.

mapmyrun.com

SFM FULL MARATHON

Route from MapMyRun

Open link

1859 San Fran. Sounds like that findmymarathon website has info from a course that was run years ago.

San Fran beats out the Atlanta marathon with its 1811 feet of elevation gain change

atlantatrackclub.org

Elevation Profiles

@ATLtrackclub

Resolution Run 5K var divElement = document.getElementById('viz1576080659744'); var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName('object')[0];

Open link

For sure, anyone running prs on these courses is going to have a time that they can reproduce on courses other than CIM.

Bonus: big sur elevation profile:

bigsurmarathon.org

Course Maps - Big Sur International Marathon

Click below to view the map. Note: all maps are subject to change. Course map for the Marathon, Marathon Relay, 21-Miler, and 11-Miler 12K and 5K course map Event starts Finish area map Bus departure locations Race Weekend –...

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blue ridge marathon (starts from roanoke, va ):

blueridgemarathon.com

Foot Levelers Blue Ridge Marathon - Foot Levelers Blue Ridge Marathon

Julia Boas

EVENT DETAILS America’s Toughest Road Marathon has the most elevation change of any road race in the United States. LOCATION: Course Start at Elmwood Park in downtown Roanoke, VA START TIME: 7:35 AM Corral Start System– Look...

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7430 feet

I know people who have pr'd at San Fran. I have never met anyone who pr'd at blue ridge marathon.

The thread is about marathons in a major city.

Roanoke, VA Is NOT a major city, therefore the Blue Ridge Marathon is not an option.

I was going to say maybe Yonkers Marathon but technically it's not in New York City itself.

Sure, sure, that was just for fun. San Fran is the hilliest marathon in a major US city, as defined by op's parameters.

Pittsburgh appeared to be a very hilly city, I wonder how hilly their marathon is.

Salt Lake City has to be top 3 slowest.

Atlanta. Beat the sh*t out of me twice now. Relentless hills & jacked up roads.

Course elevation measurements vary widely depending on the source. And most of them use some sort of digital elevation model, which don't account for bridges- so on a course like New York or San Francisco, when you go over those tall bridges a course profile based on a digital elevation model will show you at sea level or some other incorrect elevation. Here's the official San Francisco map and profile, near miles 8 and 13 there should be identical arcs topping out at around 250' as you go over the Golden Gate Bridge but instead they show an elevation of about 70'.

Only way to truly know is if someone went out and physically surveyed the course with an accurate instrument, but I'm not aware of any courses that have done this.

I'm showing pittsburgh with 933 ft, not terrible

SLC is 918 of gain with 1500 drop, massive net downhill, but... altitude. Sounds rough.

Showing Kansas City with 1200, certainly up there

Pikes Peak, Colorado Springs

/thread

Just for comparison's sake--yes, I know it's not what the OP asked for--the Erie marathon is pretty much PR City. Total elevation gain would be something under 10ft.

I realize that some runners actually prefer a little bit of roll, so you're not using exactly the same motor units for 42km, but for someone walking the race (like me), it was great.