Nara Marathon

The organiser describes the marathon as a course from the Nara athletics stadium (奈良市鴻ノ池陸上競技場) to a turn inside Tenri city and back to the same stadium, and the course is certified by the Japan Association of Athletics Federations. Its course page says the race is built around the Heijō Palace site and the other places Nara is known for, and the first of the eight gates, at 5.4 km, is placed at the Suzaku Gate (朱雀門前).

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The course starts at about 91 m and finishes at about 97 m, and the ground in between never leaves a band of roughly 63 m to 145 m. It falls to its lowest point, 62.7 m, at km 3.9, climbs to 109 m by km 10.0, and comes back down to 70 m at km 14.0.

The first long climb runs from km 14.0 to 18.6, where the course reaches 143 m. After a descent to 71 m at km 24.6, the second runs for 6.5 km to the highest point of the course, 145.2 m at km 31.1. A last rise takes the course from 80 m at km 34.5 to 109 m at km 38.2 before the run back down to the stadium.

Counted over a 1 km window the whole race climbs 271.5 m, about 122 m in the first half and 149 m in the second.

Measured

The organiser lists the gates as planned closing times (予定): 5.4 km at 10:07, 10.6 km at 10:47, 15.7 km at 11:27, 20.0 km at 12:01, 25.8 km at 12:46, 30.5 km at 13:23, 34.4 km at 13:54 and 38.0 km at 14:22. Counted from the 9:00 gun, the first gate allows about 12:24 per km. By the last gate the allowance is about 8:28 per km, a little tighter than the 8:32 per km that the 15:00 finish limit works out to.

A runner who misses a gate, or who the officials or medical staff judge cannot reach the next one in time, is stopped. The organiser does not adjust the closing times if the race is held up by an emergency vehicle.

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The course page marks that stretch with an exclamation mark on its course map and says the road is private, so a practice run on it is not allowed. The same page asks anyone practising on the rest of the course to obey traffic rules, to wear reflective or bright clothing after dark, and to avoid the habits that neighbours have complained about: running red lights, crossing the road diagonally and running in the road where there is a pavement.

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