Nationwide Children's Hospital Columbus Marathon: Course, Route Profile & Map

Course & Elevation

Start and finish sit on West Long Street at North Bank Park, on the east bank of the Scioto River in the Arena District. The first half is one long reach east and back: High Street carries the field onto Broad Street past the Ohio Statehouse, out through Olde Towne East and the Franklin Park Conservatory to a rectangle around Bexley and Capital University at kilometre 7, the opening half's high ground at about 244 metres, then back west past Nationwide Children's Hospital and south into German Village and Schiller Park before High Street returns it downtown.

Half marathoners turn for home there. The marathon carries straight on north through the Short North and Victorian Village, up Neil Avenue into the Ohio State campus past the Ohio Union and Ohio Stadium, and out to a turnaround on Kenny Road at kilometre 29. What follows is the only real elevation of the day: a gradual 30-metre rise between kilometres 27.5 and 31 through Upper Arlington to the course high point of 254 metres, then a 17-metre drop over a single kilometre through Grandview Heights just before kilometre 36.

All of it is closed city asphalt, three quarters of it flat by gradient, with 149 metres of climbing over the full distance and no rated climb at all. Mid-October in central Ohio means a cold, sometimes near-freezing 7:30 start, and the neighbourhoods the route threads are the ones that come out to watch: at every mile marker a Children's Champion and their family are standing on the kerb.

Pacing Strategy

Three quarters of this course is flat and there is no climb to hide behind, so the whole plan is an even-effort plan. The opening eleven kilometres out Broad Street to Bexley gain 25 metres so gently that you will not feel them, which is exactly the trap: on closed downtown streets, in a field of thousands, in cold air, goal pace feels free out there. Bank nothing before the Bexley rectangle.

The race is decided between kilometres 27 and 36. The rise through the Ohio State campus and Upper Arlington to the 254-metre high point is only 30 metres, but it arrives after 27 kilometres and lasts three and a half; run it on effort and let the pace slip. The Grandview Heights descent just before kilometre 36 gives it all back in one kilometre, so roll it rather than braking it, because six flat kilometres back through Victorian Village and the Arena District follow and that is where quads that were used up on the downhill make themselves known.

One more course attribute worth planning for: the northern half is open suburban street with little shelter and a much thinner field once the half marathon has peeled away. Keep the fuelling rhythm running through those quiet miles rather than letting it drift with the noise.

Training plan for Nationwide Children's Hospital Columbus Marathon: 12-week build

For an age-group runner this is a 3:15 to 5:00 effort; the 2025 field averaged 4:20. The demand is steadily aerobic and almost entirely rhythmic: no rated climbs, three quarters of the distance flat by gradient, 149 metres of ascent over the whole marathon. What the course really tests is holding one pace for four hours on hard, closed asphalt through 57 turns.

Two phases decide the day. The long gentle rise from kilometre 27 to 31 through Upper Arlington asks for climbing that costs nothing at a point in the race where nothing is free, and the descent into Grandview Heights immediately afterwards loads the quads with six kilometres still to run.

Train accordingly: long runs at goal pace on flat, hard surfaces rather than on soft trail; a back-loaded gently hilly block in the final third of some long runs to rehearse kilometres 27 to 36; downhill running under fatigue so the Grandview drop stays free; and enough turn-dense city running that constant cornering on tired legs is not new on race day.

Conditions belong in the preparation. A 7:30 start in central Ohio in mid-October is usually cold and sometimes close to freezing, and the northern loop runs through open suburban streets. Rehearse what you wear for the first hour and what you intend to discard, and test your fuelling in the cold, where gels behave differently than they did in August.