長野マラソン (Nagano Marathon)

The course tips page calls the course “relatively flat”: the highest point is 383 m at the Daimon intersection in front of Zenko-ji, the lowest 340 m, so 43 m of height difference. It says the race is decided after 30 km and advises holding back in the first half. Between the 30 km point and the Nakamichijima intersection comes the “two-humped camel” (futakobu rakuda), an up and down stretch, and then the runners return to the dyke road with the spring fields and the Northern Alps still holding snow in view. The page also warns that the last 4 km on the dyke road suffer in a strong wind.

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The organiser’s description runs as follows. After the start at Nagano Sports Park the course turns onto Route 19 heading west, passes Nagano City Hall and reaches the 5 km point on Nagano Odori. A left turn and a climb lead to the high point at Daimon intersection in front of Zenko-ji, and then onto Chuo-dori, 700 m of 6 m wide stone paving that is downhill and narrow, where the organiser expects crowding. After 10 km the course heads east past Big Hat to the Sai river dyke, turns near the M-Wave, the speed skating venue of the 1998 Olympics, and passes the White Ring at 25 km. It then follows the Chikuma river dyke past the Matsushiro bridge and finishes in the Nagano Olympic Stadium at Shinonoi.

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The race starts at Nagano Sports Park at 8:30 and must be finished within five hours, with nine cut-off gates, in principle one every 5 km. General entry ran first come first served from 12 September 2026 for 9,700 places, with 300 more in an accommodation package, at 14,300 yen including tax plus a registration fee. Entrants must be 18 or older on race day, and a fast declared time needed a certificate from a recent marathon.

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