TheMarathon Clinic
Course pacing

How to pace the Sunshine Coast Marathon

The Sunshine Coast Marathon is a flat and fast marathon, with about 79 m of climbing and 78 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 Sunshine Coast Marathon

Sunday 30 August 2026

About 9 weeks away · 63 days · projected from the usual race weekend

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Elevation gain

79m

Elevation loss

78m

Net change

0m

Terrain

Flat

Typical race-day conditions

August

At the gun

13°C

~6:00am start

By the finish

18°C

warms through the morning

Humidity

71%

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 August · +1.8%

A typical August morning sits around 13°C at the gun and 18°C by the finish. Adapted to conditions like these, the heat may still slow you about +1.8% against an ideal cool day. That moves your 3:30:00 goal to about 3:33:49, 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.

Sunshine Coast Marathon

Sunshine Coast, QLD

Hover the map or the profile, the other follows.

The climbing starts early.

0 km5101520253035405 m10 m15 m
km 0–1 climbs 14 m.
climb descenttarget pace

The coach's read

Flat beachfront running where the sea breeze, not the gradient, is the variable to manage. Use the flat to settle early, hold an even effort, and stay patient on the exposed stretches beside the water.

WHY  Allowing for a typical August 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 km5:19/km5:19
2 km4:59/km10:18
3 km4:55/km15:13
4 km5:06/km20:19
5 km5:04/km25:23
6 km5:27/km30:50
7 km4:46/km35:36
8 km5:04/km40:40
9 km5:02/km45:41
10 km5:04/km50:46
11 km5:04/km55:50
12 km4:59/km1:00:49
13 km5:03/km1:05:52
14 km5:09/km1:11:01
15 km5:10/km1:16:11
16 km4:53/km1:21:04
17 km5:02/km1:26:07
18 km5:05/km1:31:11
19 km5:05/km1:36:16
20 km5:07/km1:41:23
21 km5:10/km1:46:34
22 km5:06/km1:51:40
23 km5:01/km1:56:41
24 km5:03/km2:01:43
25 km5:04/km2:06:47
26 km5:03/km2:11:50
27 km5:08/km2:16:58
28 km5:07/km2:22:05
29 km4:58/km2:27:03
30 km4:57/km2:32:00
31 km5:02/km2:37:03
32 km5:03/km2:42:06
33 km5:04/km2:47:10
34 km5:07/km2:52:17
35 km5:05/km2:57:22
36 km4:59/km3:02:21
37 km5:09/km3:07:29
38 km5:08/km3:12:37
39 km5:04/km3:17:40
40 km5:02/km3:22:42
41 km5:09/km3:27:52
42 km4:59/km3:32:51
Finish4:54/km3:33:49

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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·Race-day guide

Pacing the Sunshine Coast Marathon

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

01The course

Kilometre by kilometre

  • The climbing that matters: 0.0–1.3 km (+14 m at 1.1%), 5.0–5.9 km (+13 m at 1.4%). Run these by effort; your pace will and should slow.
  • Where you get it back: 1.4–2.9 km (-14 m down), 6.1–7.1 km (-13 m down). Let these run without braking or hammering: relaxed, quick feet.
02The plan

How to pace the Sunshine Coast Marathon

  1. Read the course before race day. Flat, fast beachfront. Flat beachfront running where the sea breeze, not the gradient, is the variable to manage.
  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. Use the flat to settle early, hold an even effort, and stay patient on the exposed stretches beside the water.
03Questions

Sunshine Coast Marathon, answered

Is the Sunshine Coast Marathon hilly?
No, it's a flat course, with only about 79 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 Sunshine Coast Marathon?
The Sunshine Coast Marathon is a flat and fast marathon, with about 79 m of climbing and 78 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 Sunshine 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 Sunshine Coast Marathon have?
About 79 m of total gain and 78 m of loss over the 42.2 km, modelled from the official route and the SRTM elevation model.

From the journal

2026-06-10 · 4 min

Why your marathon paces should come from a real run

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Train for Sunshine 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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