My marathons

Gold Coast Marathon

06:156:15 AM Gold Coast
Surfers Paradise
© OpenStreetMap Surfers Paradise. Photograph by chillmimi, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons . Course line © OpenStreetMap contributors

The course

Pick a place, or drag along the profile

Flat from start to finish: 6 m between the lowest and the highest point.

Start, finish

© OpenStreetMap contributors

  4. Photo: BobTanGo, CC BY 4.0

km 0.8mile 0.5

Broadwater Parklands

Start and finish are in the Southport Broadwater Parklands.

Height drawn many times taller than life. Heights: GEDTM30.

Course elevation profile, 8× vertical exaggeration Elevation along the course from km 0 to km 42. The trace runs between 2 and 8 metres, a range of 6 metres, drawn at 8 times vertical exaggeration so the shape is legible. Smoothed over 1 km before this profile was derived. An unsmoothed urban surface carries the buildings and would assert a climb that is not there. The dashed stretches are bridge decks: Gold Coast Highway, km 1.1 to 1.5; Gold Coast Highway, km 29.6 to 30. A bare-earth model reads the ground or the water beneath a bridge, not the deck the runner is on, so those runs are interpolated between the ground either side rather than measured, and they under-report the real climb across a span.
0 10 20 30 40 km
0 10 20 26.2 mi

Dashed: bridge

  • flat all the way

Your 5 gels, at the orange marksFor a 4:00 finish, one every 40 minutes

  1. km 7mile 4.4
  2. km 14.1mile 8.7
  3. km 21.1mile 13.1
  4. km 28.1mile 17.5
  5. km 35.2mile 21.8

Get them on AmazonAmazon partner link

The course in short 3 lines
  • Between 2.3 and 8.4 m above the seaA 6.1 m spread over 42 km, from 3.3 m at the start to 3.2 m at the finish.
  • South to Miami, north to Runaway BayTwo out-and-backs from the Parklands: south to Miami, then north to Runaway Bay.
  • A station every 2.5 kmWater-only at 2.5, 7.5, 12.5 and so on; drink and gels at 5 km spacing.
Course notes 4 short reads on the course
km 0 to 42.2GradientBetween 2.3 and 8.4 m above the seaA 6.1 m spread over 42 km, from 3.3 m at the start to 3.2 m at the finish.

The road starts at about 3.3 m, reaches its high point of 8.4 m near km 15.4 on the run down to Miami, and bottoms out at 2.3 m near km 29.9 on the way back. In total the course climbs 27.6 m, well under a metre per kilometre, and it finishes where it started at 3.2 m.

The race lists the marathon’s course elevation as 62 m. Either way there is no hill on it, and the road follows the beachfront for most of the distance.

Measured

km 0 to 42.2GeometrySouth to Miami, north to Runaway BayTwo out-and-backs from the Parklands: south to Miami, then north to Runaway Bay.

From the Broadwater Parklands the course runs south along the coast through Main Beach, past the Surfers Paradise Esplanade and Broadbeach to the turn at Miami, near km 17. It comes back north the same way, passes the start area and carries on to Runaway Bay, where it turns at about km 37 and runs back to the finish in the Parklands. About 29 km of it is beachside running.

This is the 2026 course.

Measured

km 2.5 to 40TacticsA station every 2.5 kmWater-only at 2.5, 7.5, 12.5 and so on; drink and gels at 5 km spacing.

Refreshment stations serve water and an electrolyte drink, and the 30 km station also has gels, in limited numbers that the organiser says are not guaranteed, so bring your own if you plan on them. The stations were on the left of the road in 2026 apart from the 10 km and 20 km ones, which were on the right. A flag at each 5 km station shows the current heat reading for the course, from white (good conditions) to black (extreme conditions, consider stopping).

Sourced

Whole courseConditionsA winter race on the coastEarly July, usually low humidity and little wind.

The course is AIMS certified. The 2026 race ran on Sunday 5 July with a 6:15 start, and the 2027 race is on Sunday 4 July. A winter day can still turn warmer or more humid than runners are used to, which is why the 5 km stations fly heat-reading flags.

Sourced

Race fuel

Energy gel
An energy gel sachet
Illustration · drag to turn

5 gels for Gold Coast, plus 1 spare

Finish

One every 40 minutes, the orange marks on the profile. Gold Coast stays within 6 m20 ft of height, so they go by the clock:

  1. km 7mile 4.4
  2. km 14.1mile 8.7
  3. km 21.1mile 13.1
  4. km 28.1mile 17.5
  5. km 35.2mile 21.8

Our pick: SiS BETA Fuel gel, box of 6, strawberry and lime. 40 g of carbohydrate a gel, about twice a usual gel, from two kinds of sugar your body takes up side by side.

Easy to forget on race morning: pack them with your bib the night before.

Get it on Amazon

We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.

In Canada the button opens GU Energy Gel, Salted Caramel, 24-pack, the best seller there.

Outside the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the UK and Ireland, Spain and Portugal, Italy, the rest of the EU and Canada the button opens GU Energy Gel, Chocolate Outrage, 24-pack on Amazon.com, the best seller there.

Anti-chafe
Compeed Anti-blister stick
Photo: Compeed

Compeed

Compeed anti-blister stick, 8 ml

Best selling on Amazon amazon.nl, read 2 Nov

An invisible layer before the start keeps seams, straps and shoes from rubbing skin raw.

Put it on before you leave for the start: heels and toes, inner thighs, under a bra or heart-rate strap.

Try it on a long run first, like everything you use on race day.

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We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.

Number belt
A race number belt
Illustration · drag to turn

Compressport Race Belt

Holds your bib without safety pins through your top, with loops for up to 8 gels.

Clip the bib on the night before, so it goes on with your shorts in the morning.

Keep the number on the front, where officials and photographers can see it.

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We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.

Electrolytes
A tube of electrolyte tablets
Illustration · drag to turn

SiS Hydro electrolyte tablets, tube of 20

One tablet in a bottle puts back some of the salt you sweat out.

One tablet in 500 ml of water in the hour before the start.

Only if you have used them in training: nothing new on race day.

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We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.

Blister plasters
Compeed Blister plasters, medium, 6
Photo: Compeed

Compeed

Compeed blister plasters, medium, 6

Best selling on Amazon amazon.nl, read 2 Nov

One in a pocket cushions a blister if one starts.

Put it on clean, dry skin and leave it until it comes off by itself.

Give a couple to whoever comes to cheer, so they are there at the km you need them.

Get it on Amazon

We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.
distance
42.2 km26.2 mi
climb
27.6 m91 ft
cut-off
7:00 h
finishers
5,769
first held
1979

A flat course from Southport's Broadwater Parklands along the Pacific coast: south past Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach to a turn at Miami, back north to a second turn at Runaway Bay, and home to the Parklands.

The Gold Coast Marathon is a flat out-and-back course of 42.2 km with 27.6 m of climbing. Its lowest point is 2 m and its highest 8 m above sea level. Next race: Sunday 4 July 2027, starting at 06:15.

Race week

Timetable

Sunday 4 July Race day

  1. 06:156:15 AM

    Marathon start The 2026 marathon went off at 6:15 with the first wave: seeded, priority and start zone A. Wave 2 (zone B) started at 6:25, wave 3 (zone C) at 6:35 and wave 4 (zones D and E) at 6:45, each with its own gun.

  2. 06:556:55 AM

    Start line closes In 2026 the start line closed at 6:55. The pace guideline from the closing of the start line was 9:30 per km.

  3. Time not published

    Overall time limit 7 hours from the gun, which is 6 hours 40 minutes from the last wave start. 7:00 limit: 9:57/km for 42.195 km7:00 limit: 16:01/mi for 26.2 mi

Times as published by Events Management Queensland, in Gold Coast time, checked .

Add to calendar .ics file, times in Gold Coast time

Trip

Getting a place

Entry through the organiser

Entry details on the organiser’s site →

Events Management Queensland, a third party. We take no entries and have no part in the race.

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Questions about the Gold Coast Marathon

Is the Gold Coast Marathon course flat?

Yes. It has 27.6 m of climbing over 42.2 km. The highest point is 6 m above the lowest.

When is the Gold Coast Marathon 2027?

Sunday 4 July 2027. The start is at 06:15.

What is the time limit at the Gold Coast Marathon?

Runners have 7 hours to finish.

1 more question
How many runners finish the Gold Coast Marathon?

5,769 runners finished in 2019.

Sources and licence

Last checked.

Course line matched onto OpenStreetMap road geometry: (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License 1.0 (ODbL). Elevation sampled from GEDTM30, Global Ensemble Digital Terrain Model at 30 m (v1.2): Elevation: GEDTM30 (Ho & Hengl, OpenGeoHub), CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Elevation gain computed by us from that line, smoothed over 1 kmsmoothed over 0.6 mi.

The line follows the road down its middle, so it measures 0.40% longer than the certified distance, which is measured on the shortest legal line through every bend.

Date and entry information from Events Management Queensland.

Every source and licence behind them →

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