Marathon Trip Your trips on every device: sign in, or make a free account when you save one.
Signed in on this browser.
Sign in My marathons Account and dataLocked out? An export link you keep still opens your list in any browser.
No account: email it to me
One email with this trip and a link to open it again. We do not keep the address and send nothing else.
Only a race from our list can be emailed. An account keeps this one.
What we keep, and what we do notCheck your inbox at to confirm it.
Browse the racesEach edition the day it comes out, and nothing else. Off again with one click. How it is kept.
Running Havana? Order your gels by 25 October to test them on two long runs. Get them on Amazon Amazon partner link
Two laps of a certified circuit through central Havana, from Avenida Independencia along the Prado and the Malecon and back, on the 40th edition.
The Havana Marathon is a loop of 42.2 km with 108.1 m of climbing. Its lowest point is 2 m and its highest 37 m above sea level. Next race: Sunday 15 November 2026, starting at 06:00.
Imagery: Google Earth and its imagery providers
Jump to a part of the course
The marathon is two laps of the half marathon circuit, which starts and finishes on Avenida Independencia at 19 de Mayo, opposite Sala Ramón Fonst.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
km 2.9mile 1.8
The course turns from Dragones onto the Prado beside the fountain at about km 2.9, and again on the second lap.
Photo: B. L. Singley, Public domain
km 3mile 1.9
The Prado runs past the Capitolio at about km 3, and again on the second lap.
Photo: Yomangani, Public domain
km 3.6mile 2.2
The tree-lined promenade the course runs along between Dragones and Ánimas, at about km 3.6 and again on the second lap.
km 4mile 2.5
The course passes the museum, the old presidential palace, on Avenida de las Misiones at about km 4, and again on the second lap.
Photo: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0
km 4.6mile 2.8
The course reaches the sea at the fortress at the mouth of the harbour at about km 4.6 and turns west onto the Malecón, on both laps.
Photo: Callelinea, Public domain
km 5.7mile 3.6
The seafront road the course follows west from La Punta towards Vedado, on both laps; the organiser keeps runners to its right-hand side.
Photo: Bryan Ledgard, CC BY 2.0
km 6.1mile 3.8
The Malecón passes the Maceo monument at about km 6.1, and again on the second lap.
Photo: Randolph Croft, CC BY 2.0
km 6.9mile 4.3
The hotel stands on the rise above the Malecón, passed at about km 6.9 on both laps.
Photo: Jongleur100, Public domain
km 9.6mile 6
Opened December 1957, 21 floors over the Malecón. The course passes it at about km 9.6 and again at km 30.7.
km 20.3mile 12.6
The tower on the Plaza de la Revolución, beside the start and the end of each lap.
Photo: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0
km 24.4mile 15.2
Built 1914, the home of the Cuban National Ballet. It stands on the Paseo del Prado, passed at about km 3.3 and again at km 24.4.
km 25.7mile 16
Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, built from 1589 to guard the harbour mouth.
km 28.4mile 17.6
The 1925 monument to the sailors lost when the USS Maine blew up in Havana harbour in 1898. It stands beside the Malecón, passed at about km 7.3 and again at km 28.4.
Height drawn many times taller than life · GEDTM30
Your 5 gels, at the orange marksFor a 4:00 finish, one every 40 minutes
Get them on AmazonAmazon partner link
The circuit is certified by AIMS and World Athletics. The half marathon is 21.097 km round one loop with start and finish in the same place, and the marathon runs that loop twice for 42.195 km.
In order, the circuit runs along Avenida Independencia, Salvador Allende (Carlos III), Amistad, Dragones, Prado, Ánimas, Avenida de las Misiones, Avenida de los Estudiantes, the Malecón, Calzada, Calle 12, Calle 23, Avenida 26, Boyeros, Santa Catalina, Primelles, Vía Blanca, Avenida Independencia and 19 de Mayo.
Sourced
The 40th Marabana is on Sunday 15 November 2026 and starts at 6 am at Sala Ramón Fonst, on Avenida Independencia between 19 de Mayo and Avenida Salvador Allende, next to the Plaza de la Revolución. The half marathon, 10K and 5K are run the same day.
Bibs are handed out at the host hotel in Vedado, on Calle L between 23 and 25, on 11, 12, 13 and 14 November from 9 am to 7 pm.
Sourced
The course drops from about 20 m at the start through Centro Habana to the sea at La Punta, and from km 4.6 to km 11.5 it stays under 5 m: the Malecón, nearly 6 km along the seawall, down to 2.3 m on the second lap.
The climbing comes all at once. Calle 12 rises from 4.6 m to 24.8 m between km 11.5 and km 12.4, Calle 23 holds level, and Avenida 26 goes on up to 37.3 m at km 15.5, by the Ciudad Deportiva roundabout. The loop through Santa Catalina and Primelles stays between about 29 and 36 m until km 19, and only then does Avenida Independencia fall back to about 20 m at the end of the lap. On the second lap the climb from the Malecón starts at about km 32.5 and tops out near km 36.6.
Over the whole race that comes to 108 m of climbing, about half of it on each lap.
Measured
The gun goes at 6:00 and the first lap, 21.0975 km, has to be done in 3 hours 30 minutes. After 9:30 nobody goes on to the second lap, and a marathon runner who stops at halfway is listed as not finished, with the halfway time noted but no half-marathon result. The finish closes at 13:00, seven hours after the start.
On four stretches, the Malecón, Calzada, Calle 23 and Avenida 26, the race keeps to the far right-hand lane. The half marathon starts at 6:15 on the same circuit, so the first lap is shared with it, and at the line the marathon runners finishing lap one keep to the right and come back through the centre lane at the end of lap two. Water is set out about every 2.5 km.
Sourced
09:009:00 AM–19:007:00 PM
09:009:00 AM–19:007:00 PM
09:009:00 AM–19:007:00 PM
09:009:00 AM–19:007:00 PM
Bib in hand?A number belt holds it without pins through your race top. Clip it on tonight.
Number belt on AmazonAmazon partner link
05:005:00 AM
05:305:30 AM
06:006:00 AM
10:0010:00 AM
13:001:00 PM
until 13:301:30 PM
06:156:15 AM
07:007:00 AM
09:309:30 AM
Times as published by Comisión Nacional de Carreras y Caminatas Marabana Maracuba, in Havana time, checked . Confirm on their site before you travel.
The forecast for Sunday
Add to calendar .ics file, times in Havana time
Entry open for the 2026 race
As read 15 October 2026.
Comisión Nacional de Carreras y Caminatas Marabana Maracuba, a third party. We take no entries and have no part in the race.
Race fuel
One every 40 minutes, the orange marks on the profile. Havana stays within 35 m115 ft of height, so they go by the clock:
Under about 75 minutes most runners need no gel: water at the aid stations does it.
For your long training runs:
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. Enough for race day and two test long runs.
Easy to forget on race morning: pack them with your bib the night before.
Order by 25 October to test them on two long runs first.
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.
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.
We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.
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.
We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.
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.
We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.
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.
We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.
More races to look at after the Havana Marathon.
Film stills: Google Earth
