Doha Marathon

Every distance starts at Hotel Park, and the marathon finishes there as well. The route runs along the Corniche, Doha’s waterfront road around the bay.

The Marathon Village sits at Hotel Park. Kit and bib are collected there before race day, and on race day it holds a free physiotherapy service and the medal engraving station, where a medal’s back is engraved with the runner’s first name and official time for 50 QR extra.

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Water stations are placed every 3 km along the route.

Baggage drop is free and staffed while you run, and the event is chip-timed on a measured course. Wearing headphones is strongly discouraged, so that runners can hear the marshals.

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Four runners share the 42.195 km, each running one leg. The first three run 10 km each and the fourth takes the final 12.195 km as the “Glory Leg”. Teams of three are allowed, with one runner doing two legs.

The electronic timing baton changes hands inside the marked transition zones. A hand-over outside a zone gives the team “No Time” and rules it out of prize money.

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Most of the marathon runs at the water’s edge: the Corniche round the bay, the Museum of Islamic Art park and the Old Doha Port all sit a few metres above the sea. The lowest point is on the Corniche, at 1.6 m.

The only ground worth the name is inland. Al Khaleej Street rises gently to 18.0 m, and Al Bidda Street runs a little above the Corniche beside it. Across the whole race that adds up to 49.9 m of climbing, spread over long, gentle grades rather than any single hill.

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The organiser’s 2027 map draws two streets as a pair of lines ending in a turn. Al Bidda Street runs north past the Arches Monument and the Khalifa International Tennis Complex to Tornado Tower in West Bay and comes back the same way, 8.8 km in all. Al Khaleej Street runs out past the Qatar SC stadium and back, 9.3 km.

Both end in a hairpin of about 190 degrees, and the long straights on Al Bidda Street, up to 1.9 km without a bend, are the straightest running of the day. On an out-and-back the faster runners pass on the other side of the road, so this is where you can see who is ahead and by how much.

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The Corniche curves round Doha’s bay, and the course adds a loop through MIA Park and a long stretch out on the Old Doha Port, with its breakwater and pier. Measured against the shoreline, 16.2 km of the race is within 100 m of the water and 20.0 km within 200 m.

The out-and-backs on Al Bidda Street and Al Khaleej Street are inland, between the towers and the low-rise streets, away from the water for their whole length.

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