Hamburg Marathon

The start on Karolinenstraße sits at about 20 m. The first 5 km climb 23.1 m, to 39.0 m at km 4.7, which is the high point of the whole course. The organiser’s course page puts the Reeperbahn in “the first few kilometres”.

After that the road runs down: 38.5 m at km 5 becomes 5.6 m at km 13, and the lowest point of the whole course, 4.7 m, comes at km 12.4. Of the 98 m of total climb, nearly a quarter is spent before km 5, and the long run along the water that follows is nearly all downhill or flat.

Measured

The organiser describes the course as “almost flat as a pancake, with little ramps smoothed out by an incomparable crowd enthusiasm”. The northernmost point is in Ohlsdorf. In the organiser’s words, “turning onto Maienweg, the remaining 12 kilometres – not unimportant psychologically – lead geographically only towards the finish.”

The profile agrees that those kilometres are not a descent. The road drops to 5.7 m at km 38.9 and then climbs 15.7 m over the last 3.3 km to the finish area at 21.4 m, about the height of the start. Save something for the run back through Dammtor and past Planten un Blomen.

Measured

The course runs along the Elbe and through the city centre to the Kennedybrücke at about km 16.6, which the organiser singles out for “one of Hamburg’s most beautiful views over the Binnenalster”. From the bridge the route follows the Außenalster and heads for Stadtpark.

On the profile this is where the road leaves the water. The low point of the middle of the race is 5.2 m at km 19.5, and the high point of the middle is 19.7 m at km 25.9, so the climb is 14.5 m spread over about 6 km, a gradient of under a quarter of a percent. It is nothing a runner would call a hill, but it is the stretch where the course turns uphill for long enough to feel it in the second half.

Measured