My marathons

Portugal Half Marathon

This race no longer runs. Lisbon
Belém Tower
© OpenStreetMap Belém Tower. Photograph by Rehman Abubakr, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons . Course line © OpenStreetMap contributors

The course

Pick a place, or drag along the profile

A slow rise of 10 m to km 6, downhill to km 10, then flat home.

StartFinish

© OpenStreetMap contributors

  1. Photo: Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0

km 21.1mile 13.1

Praça do Comércio

The finish: the organiser says the 21 km course ends at Praça do Comércio, in front of the Tagus.

Photo: Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0

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

Course elevation profile, 8× vertical exaggeration Elevation along the course from km 0 to km 21. The trace runs between 2 and 30 metres, a range of 28 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: Ponte Vasco da Gama, km 0 to 5; Viaduto da Matinha, km 5.3 to 5.6; Avenida Infante Dom Henrique, km 13.9 to 14.3; Avenida da Ribeira das Naus, km 16.5 to 16.6; Avenida da Ribeira das Naus, km 20.5 to 20.6. 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 5 10 15 20 km
0 5 10 13.1 mi

Dashed: bridge

  • slow rise to 6
  • downhill to 10
  • flat home

Your 2 gels, at the orange marksFor a 1:55 finish, one every 40 minutes

  1. km 7.3mile 4.6
  2. km 14.7mile 9.1

Get them on AmazonAmazon partner link

The course in short 3 lines
  • Across the Vasco da Gama Bridge to the TagusThe first 5 km are on the bridge; the finish is Praça do Comércio.
  • Low and level along the river from km 10Ten kilometres of river road within 2 m of height.
  • Buses to the bridge, and only busesThe 2026 start on the bridge was reached by organiser bus only.
Course notes 3 short reads on the course
km 0 to 5.0LandmarkAcross the Vasco da Gama Bridge to the TagusThe first 5 km are on the bridge; the finish is Praça do Comércio.

The organiser describes a 21 km course that begins on the Vasco da Gama Bridge and ends at Praça do Comércio, a historic square of Lisbon on the Tagus. The 2026 race ran on 11 October.

Measured

km 10 to 20GradientLow and level along the river from km 10Ten kilometres of river road within 2 m of height.

After the bridge the road falls to the riverside by about km 10 and stays within 2 m of height from there until the last kilometre, which rises to about 7 m.

Measured

Whole courseConditionsBuses to the bridge, and only busesThe 2026 start on the bridge was reached by organiser bus only.

The buses left from Gare do Oriente beside the Vasco da Gama shopping centre, runners used public transport to the station free with their bibs, the time limit was 3 hours and the field was limited to 10,000.

Sourced

Race fuel

Energy gel
An energy gel sachet
Illustration · drag to turn

2 gels for Lisbon, plus 1 spare

Finish

One every 40 minutes, the orange marks on the profile. Lisbon stays within 28 m92 ft of height, so they go by the clock:

  1. km 7.3mile 4.6
  2. km 14.7mile 9.1

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.

Get it on Amazon

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.

Get it on Amazon

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.

Get it on Amazon

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
21.1 km13.1 mi
climb
39.4 m129 ft

The Portugal Half Marathon is a flat course of 21.1 km with 39.4 m of climbing. Its lowest point is 2 m and its highest 30 m above sea level.

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 1.86% longer than the certified distance, which is measured on the shortest legal line through every bend.

Date and entry information from the organiser.

Every source and licence behind them →

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