Flattest Marathons in the World

Why flat courses are faster

On a flat course your effort goes straight into forward speed instead of fighting gravity, and you can hold an even pace from start to finish. Climbs cost more time than the matching descents give back, so the fewer metres of gain a course has, the better your chances of a PB. Net-downhill point-to-point courses can be faster still - see the easiest marathons (which also factor in weather and surface) for those.

Flat is only half the story: heat and a non-road surface both slow you down too. Use the difficulty calculator to see a course's full predicted impact on your time, or read how we calculate difficulty.