TheMarathon Clinic
Course pacing

How to pace the Gold Coast Marathon

The ASICS Gold Coast Marathon is a flat and fast marathon, with about 62 m of climbing and 65 m of descent (a near-level net change). Pace it by even effort; on a course this flat, all but even splits will follow.

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Next Gold Coast Marathon

Sunday 5 July 2026

In 7 days · projected from the usual race weekend

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Elevation gain

62m

Elevation loss

65m

Net change

-3m

Terrain

Flat

Typical race-day conditions

July

At the gun

13°C

~6:15am start

By the finish

17°C

warms through the morning

Humidity

75%

morning average

Conditions

Warm

a little warm; expect a small slowdown

Goal finish time
::
StrategyEven effort keeps your effort steady and lets pace drift with the terrain, slower up the climbs and faster down. Even pace holds one pace the whole way and ignores the hills.
Splits every
Units
Race conditionsPace for an ideal cool day, a typical race-day, or a warm-outlier year. Warmer conditions slow your realistic finish, and the splits below adjust to match.
AcclimatisedAcclimatised: you already train and race in conditions like these, so your body has adapted. You sweat sooner and more, hold a lower heart rate and core temperature, and barely lose time to the heat.Not yet: you mostly train in cooler weather, so a warm race hits harder, a higher heart rate, an earlier fade, and roughly twice the slowdown an adapted runner sees. It comes good after about two weeks of training in the heat.
Typical condition impactTypical July · +1.9%

A typical July morning sits around 13°C at the gun and 17°C by the finish. Adapted to conditions like these, the heat may still slow you about +1.9% against an ideal cool day. That moves your 3:30:00 goal to about 3:34:00, and the pace below already allows for it.

Your target pace

5:04/km

Your average across the whole course. The splits below shift it for every climb and descent, so your effort stays even the whole way.

ASICS Gold Coast Marathon

Gold Coast, QLD

Hover the map or the profile, the other follows.

This one is won on the back half.

0 km5101520253035400 m5 m10 m15 m
km 27–28 climbs 10 m, right where most runners fade.
climb descenttarget pace

The coach's read

Pancake-flat along the Broadwater and the beachfront, out and back. There are no hills to plan around, so this is an even-effort, even-pace course. The day's variables are the sun and any sea breeze on the exposed stretches, not the gradient.

WHY  Allowing for a typical July day, that's about 5:04/km of effort the whole way, the splits below shift with the gradient, not your pace.

Ease the climbs, let the descents run, and stay relaxed through the second half.
JHJason HuntFounder & Head Coach
Your race-day splits
MarkerTarget paceClock
1 km4:55/km4:55
2 km5:07/km10:02
3 km5:06/km15:07
4 km5:06/km20:14
5 km5:05/km25:18
6 km5:02/km30:21
7 km5:19/km35:40
8 km4:50/km40:30
9 km5:12/km45:42
10 km5:04/km50:47
11 km5:15/km56:02
12 km4:56/km1:00:58
13 km5:10/km1:06:08
14 km5:00/km1:11:08
15 km5:04/km1:16:13
16 km5:04/km1:21:16
17 km5:02/km1:26:18
18 km5:06/km1:31:24
19 km5:05/km1:36:28
20 km5:03/km1:41:32
21 km5:04/km1:46:36
22 km5:11/km1:51:46
23 km4:59/km1:56:45
24 km5:05/km2:01:49
25 km5:14/km2:07:03
26 km4:54/km2:11:57
27 km4:58/km2:16:56
28 km5:23/km2:22:18
29 km4:49/km2:27:07
30 km4:58/km2:32:05
31 km5:19/km2:37:24
32 km4:58/km2:42:22
33 km5:04/km2:47:26
34 km5:05/km2:52:30
35 km5:04/km2:57:35
36 km5:08/km3:02:43
37 km5:05/km3:07:47
38 km5:01/km3:12:48
39 km5:02/km3:17:50
40 km5:05/km3:22:56
41 km5:05/km3:28:01
42 km5:00/km3:33:01
Finish5:04/km3:34:00

Even-effort splits distribute your goal time by the energy cost of each gradient (the Minetti grade-cost model), not an even pace. Wind, heat, turns, and your own downhill tolerance still apply, so run the climbs by feel and stay relaxed on the descents.

Train for this course, not just the distance.

A coach builds the climbs and descents into your plan.

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Take it furtherAdjust for the heatPlan your splits
·Race-day guide

Pacing the Gold Coast Marathon

A coach's read on how the ASICS Gold Coast Marathon runs, and how to spend your effort across it.

01The course

Kilometre by kilometre

  • The climbing that matters: 9.7–10.7 km (+11 m at 1.1%), 6.2–7.1 km (+11 m at 1.2%), 27.4–27.9 km (+10 m at 1.9%). Run these by effort; your pace will and should slow.
  • Where you get it back: 24.8–25.7 km (-11 m down), 28.3–29.1 km (-11 m down), 7.4–7.9 km (-11 m down). Let these run without braking or hammering: relaxed, quick feet.
  • Sundale Bridge (~29.0 km): The one real bump: a low road bridge over the Nerang River, crossed twice on the out-and-back.
02The plan

How to pace the Gold Coast Marathon

  1. Read the course before race day. Pancake-flat, out-and-back. Pancake-flat along the Broadwater and the beachfront, out and back.
  2. Pace by effort, not just the watch. Set the effort you can hold for the whole marathon, then let the pace flex with the ground: a little slower up, a little faster down, the same effort throughout.
  3. Hold it steady and even. With no real hills to plan around, the win is discipline: settle on your goal pace early, hold it through the middle, and avoid the temptation to surge.
  4. Plan your finish. The day's variables are the sun and any sea breeze on the exposed stretches, not the gradient.
03Questions

Gold Coast Marathon, answered

Is the Gold Coast Marathon hilly?
No, it's a flat course, with only about 62 m of total climbing over the 42.2 km. There's nothing in the terrain you need to pace around.
How should I pace the Gold Coast Marathon?
The ASICS Gold Coast Marathon is a flat and fast marathon, with about 62 m of climbing and 65 m of descent (a near-level net change). Pace it by even effort; on a course this flat, all but even splits will follow.
Is the Gold Coast Marathon a good course for a PB?
Yes. It's flat and fast, so on a calm day it's one of the better courses for a personal best. The limiter is your fitness and pacing discipline, not the terrain.
How much elevation gain does the Gold Coast Marathon have?
About 62 m of total gain and 65 m of loss over the 42.2 km, in line with the organiser's published figures.

From the journal

2026-06-10 · 4 min

Why your marathon paces should come from a real run

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Train for Gold Coast. Not just the distance.

A coach builds this course's climbs, descents and race-day pacing into a plan made for you.

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