From the Race Organizers - Runners experience the sights and sounds of the Southeast’s fastest growing city, including the Queen City’s signature tree lined streets, historic landmarks, major sporting venues and the most eclectic neighborhood parties. The race finishes in the heart of Uptown Charlotte at Truist Park. With entertainment along the course, major headliners at the finish line festival, and five distance options, it’s a race for all runners!
If you ran the Charlotte Marathon, please consider leaving a review.
How does the Charlotte Marathon Rank?
The Charlotte Marathon was the 46th largest marathon in the U.S. last year and was the 54th largest in 2022.
Last year 6.3% of finishers qualified for the Boston Marathon and 3.9% of runners qualified for Boston in 2022.
This gives the Charlotte Marathon the 294th highest percentage of Boston Marathon qualifiers in the U.S. last year and the 369th highest percentage in 2022.
Its Course Score of 97.72 ranks it as the 342nd fastest marathon course in the U.S. and the 9th fastest course in North Carolina.
The typical race time temperature and humidity levels are within the ideal range for optimal marathon performance. This, coupled with the Course Score, gives the Charlotte Marathon a PR Score of 97.72. This PR Score ranks it as the 288th fastest marathon in the U.S. and the 9th fastest in North Carolina.
Learn more about PR Scores and Course Scores on the FAQ page.
Charlotte Marathon Elevation Chart
Max Elevation: 772 feet (235m) Min Elevation: 617 feet (188m)
Great well organized race. Everyone comments that the course is hilly but it really was not too bad. There were rolling hills the whole way but nothing super steep or too long. The course is well marked and there are a lot of volunteers at every turn. Good crowd support in the different neighborhoods. Awesome after part in a park downtown. Very cool!
Race Tips
I live in a very flat part of Ohio so I added a hill workout one day a week running back and forth over a tall bridge over a river. It was all I needed to get ready for Charlotte's hills. My time was 7 minutes under my BQ time!
Tons of hotels downtown within walking distance of the start, finish and expo! We walked out the front door of our hotel and right into our starting coral. After the race, there were tons of restaurants within walking distance of our hotel to celebrate! Awesome city for a marathon!
DMG's review of 2024 Charlotte Marathon.
4 /
5 Stars
Review
I live local, which is why I chose to run this race for the first time. It was very well organized and the fan support was incredible the entire marathon distance! The finish line was great, lots of entertainment for spectators and finishers. Great time of year for race weather.
Race Tips
Hills! I live local so I do train on hills, but I don't care to race them. I decided to not race the course but relax and enjoy it, and I absolutely did. Don't plan to PR and plan to be a little more sore than your average flat course.
Check the race route before you decide to park to make sure you can get in/out before and after the race. Parking was not an issue even with thousands of runners.
EPH's review of 2017 Charlotte Marathon.
3 /
5 Stars
Review
The marathon is extremely well run, and the first half takes you through beautiful neighborhoods with lots of crowd support. The back half SUCKS! The crowd support falls off; and the course is just a series of hills and quick turns - I felt like a rat in a maze. I live in CLT and I won't bother driving down town to run it again.
The Charlotte community was great. I loved the architecture and sculptures throughout the city. The marathon course was gently rolling, but the last mile was really tough, up a big hill, busy road, and (not the race's fault) very windy. It was a tough course as far as hills are concerned, but definitely easier than Atlanta hils.
The first half of the marathon is awesome - beautiful neighborhoods, great crowd support, etc. but the back half gets a little lonely. There are some rolling hills but nothing too hateful; although I would say the final mile being uphill on a busy street was not particularly fun. Lastly, the two times I've ran this there has been a pretty strong headwind from about mile 11 to 18 so be prepared.
Race Tips
I had a problem with my GPS getting lost during the 2 times in the city so I showed as running 26.83 instead of 26.2 which really altered my perceived pace - I missed my goal by of under 4 hours when I finished 4:00:50
4.2 Stars from 6 Reviews
