My marathons

Quebec City Marathon

Run on 4 October 2026. Next race: date not out yet. Quebec City
Château Frontenac
© OpenStreetMap Château Frontenac. Photograph by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons . Course line © OpenStreetMap contributors

The course

Pick a place, or drag along the profile

A climb of 81 m to km 16, downhill to km 26, then flat home.

StartFinish

© OpenStreetMap contributors

  1. Photo: Wilfredor, CC0
  2. Photo: Wilfredor, CC0
  4. Photo: Wilfredor, CC0
  5. Photo: Wilfredor, CC0
  8. Photo: Wilfredor, CC0

km 12.4mile 7.7

Château Frontenac

The route passes the Château Frontenac at about 12.5 km, between Rue des Remparts and Rue Saint-Louis.

Photo: Wilfredor, CC0

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

Course elevation profile, 8× vertical exaggeration Elevation along the course from km 0 to km 42. The trace runs between 4 and 89 metres, a range of 85 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: Avenue du Pont-Scott, km 2.9 to 3.1; Tronc Commun, km 36.8 to 36.9. 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. Marked points: Cut-off 10:25 at km 16; Cut-off 11:40 at km 25; Cut-off 12:35 at km 32; Cut-off 13:20 at km 36; Cut-off 13:55 at km 39.
0 10 20 30 40 km
0 10 20 26.2 mi

Dashed: bridge upright dashes: cut-offs

  • climb to 16
  • downhill to 26
  • flat home

Your 5 gels, at the orange marksFor a 4:00 finish, one every 40 minutes

  1. km 7mile 4.4
  2. km 14.1mile 8.7
  3. km 21.1mile 13.1
  4. km 28.1mile 17.5
  5. km 35.2mile 21.8

Get them on AmazonAmazon partner link

The course in short 3 lines
  • One climb, into the old townAbout 71 m up from the river into the old town by 13 km; the last 16 km are flat.
  • Three boroughs and nine neighbourhoodsThree boroughs, nine neighbourhoods; the course is certified by Athletics Canada.
  • Three traffic boxes on the courseQuai Saint-André, 1st Avenue and 18th Street each divert runners onto a section of equal length.
Course notes 4 short reads on the course
km 11.1 to 13.1GradientOne climb, into the old townAbout 71 m up from the river into the old town by 13 km; the last 16 km are flat.

The first 11 km stay low, on streets either side of the Rivière Saint-Charles and the paths along its banks. Then the route turns uphill on Côte de la Canoterie and climbs through the walled town to Porte Saint-Louis, about 71 m in 2 km. The high ground carries on across the Plains of Abraham and out along Grande Allée and Chemin Saint-Louis to Sillery, and the drop back to the St. Lawrence comes at about 25 km. From there the course runs low, along the St. Lawrence, back up the Saint-Charles and through Limoilou to the finish.

Measured

Whole courseLandmarkThree boroughs and nine neighbourhoodsThree boroughs, nine neighbourhoods; the course is certified by Athletics Canada.

The 2026 course crossed three boroughs and nine neighbourhoods of the city. Certification by Athletics Canada means the distance is measured to international standards, so a time run here can be used to qualify for other marathons, Boston among them. The 2026 edition also held the Quebec championships over the distance.

Sourced

Whole courseGeometryThree traffic boxes on the courseQuai Saint-André, 1st Avenue and 18th Street each divert runners onto a section of equal length.

At a traffic box, officers on site guide runners onto an alternate section so that vehicles can cross the course. The detour is the same length as the stretch it replaces, so the total distance does not change. The three 2026 locations were the Quai Saint-André, 1st Avenue across from 10th Street and 18th Street.

Sourced

Whole courseTacticsFive checkpoints and a six-hour limitCheckpoints from 16 km (10:25) to 39 km (13:55); six hours overall.

With the gun at 08:00, the first checkpoint at 16 km closed 2 hours 25 minutes later and the last, at 39 km, 5 hours 55 minutes later. A runner who missed one was out of the race.

Sourced

Race fuel

Energy gel
An energy gel sachet
Illustration · drag to turn

5 gels for Quebec City, plus 1 spare

Finish

One every 40 minutes, the orange marks on the profile, by the clock:

  1. km 7mile 4.4
  2. km 14.1mile 8.7
  3. km 21.1mile 13.1
  4. km 28.1mile 17.5
  5. km 35.2mile 21.8

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.
distance
42.2 km26.2 mi
climb
161.6 m530 ft
cut-off
6:00 h
first held
1998

A city marathon that starts and finishes at Place Jean-Béliveau in Limoilou and crosses three boroughs and nine neighbourhoods of Quebec City, with the old walled town on the route.

The Quebec City Marathon is a hilly loop of 42.2 km with 161.6 m of climbing. Its lowest point is 4 m and its highest 89 m above sea level.

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Questions about the Quebec City Marathon

Is the Quebec City Marathon course flat?

No, it is a hilly course: 161.6 m of climbing over 42.2 km. The highest point is 85 m above the lowest.

How do I enter the Quebec City Marathon?

Entry is through the organiser. Entry fee: CA$140 (for the 2027 race). Entry details on the organiser’s site

What is the time limit at the Quebec City Marathon?

Runners have 6 hours to finish.

In the news

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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 2.38% longer than the certified distance, which is measured on the shortest legal line through every bend.

Date and entry information from Gestev.

Every source and licence behind them →

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