NN CPC Loop Den Haag: Course, Route Profile & Map

Course & Elevation

Start and finish are on the Koningskade at the Malieveld, in the middle of The Hague. From there the course heads west out of the centre and reaches the coast at Kijkduin at around kilometre nine, the westernmost point of the route. It then turns north-east and runs behind the dune belt up to Scheveningen, reached around kilometre 17, before the closing kilometres lead back into the centre.

The elevation profile is level apart from one section. The route starts at two metres and stays between one and four all the way to kilometre twelve; only then does it climb over the dune ridge behind Scheveningen to nine metres at kilometre 16, the one genuine piece of high ground in a city otherwise at sea level. From there it falls back to one or two metres over the closing five kilometres. Over the full distance it gathers around 38 metres of climbing, with just under ninety percent of the course carrying no meaningful gradient.

It is run in mid-March, and that is where this race's character lies: on the open coast there is almost always wind at that time of year, and the stretch between Kijkduin and Scheveningen is unsheltered for kilometres. The organizer also points to the many historic buildings the half passes in the centre. The 51st edition is on 14 March 2027; the jubilee edition before it was the largest in the race's history, with 50,000 participants across all distances.

Pacing Strategy

On this course the race is set not by the profile but by the wind. The first nine kilometres west towards the coast often run in the shelter of the city and fall slightly: that is exactly where the illusion arises that the goal time will be easy. Run those kilometres on the watch instead of on effort and there is no buffer left later.

The decisive stretch is between Kijkduin and Scheveningen, roughly kilometres 12 to 16. The climb onto the dune belt is a tiny seven metres but it stretches over four kilometres, and it coincides with the most exposed part of the route. Here it is constant effort rather than constant pace, and if possible run in a group, because shelter on this section is worth more than any solo attempt.

The trap comes afterwards. From Scheveningen the course falls back to the centre, and the last three kilometres are fast if there is substance left. Burn yourself into a headwind on the coast and that is precisely where you lose. Add March cold: after two hours on an open coast the body cools further than it feels in the race, and drinking discipline suffers for it.

Training plan for NN CPC Loop Den Haag: 12-week build

A half marathon takes an age-group runner roughly 80 minutes to a good two and a half hours depending on ability. On this course it is an effort just under threshold that has to be held throughout, because neither climb nor descent provides variety.

The demand is therefore very uniform, with one qualification: the effort is not, even if the pace is. Wind and the long, barely perceptible rise onto the dune belt shift the workload through the race without much changing in the profile. That calls for the ability to run on feel rather than on kilometre splits.

The exposed coastal section between kilometres 12 and 16 decides the race, along with the return into the centre behind it. The first asks for aerobic stability under a sustained extra load, the second for the ability to accelerate after an hour and a half.

In training that means long tempo runs of 40 to 70 minutes at half-marathon pace, deliberately including windy days and exposed routes so that holding effort while the pace drops is practised. Because the race is held in mid-March on the North Sea, sessions in cold and wind, race-clothing choices and drinking at low temperatures belong in the preparation as much as the tempo work itself.