Elche-Alicante International Marathon: Course, Route Profile & Map

Course & Elevation

The start is at 09:00 on Calle Diagonal del Palau beside the Palacio de Altamira in Elche, at a little over eighty metres above the sea. The first twenty kilometres stay inside the city and run through El Palmeral, the palm grove that gives Elche its name and its reputation - the profile stays effectively constant here, between eighty and ninety metres.

From the roundabout at the edge of town the route turns interurban, and from about kilometre 26 the real descent begins: from 77 metres down to 15 between kilometres 26 and 35, the whole of the race's height loss inside nine kilometres. The last seven kilometres then run at sea level past Casa Mediterráneo to the finish at Muelle 12 in the Port of Alicante. In total 208 metres of ascent against 284 of descent, 60 per cent of the course flat and barely a steep metre anywhere.

2026 is only the second edition. The race is put on by Club Atlético Montemar with both city councils, the course is measured by the RFEA, and entries close at 6,000. Because the start and the finish are in different cities, the coach transfer is part of the race: shuttles leave Alicante from 06:15, the last at 07:30, and are booked with the entry.

Pacing Strategy

This course splits into two unequal halves, and the plan has to reflect that. The first twenty-six kilometres through Elche and out into the plain are flat - not falling, flat - and if you have the eighty-metre descent in mind and are already running faster than planned there, you are taking an advance that the course only pays out ten kilometres later.

The section between kilometres 26 and 35 is the race. Sixty metres over nine kilometres is barely perceptible, but muscularly it does cost - running downhill loads the quadriceps eccentrically, and here it meets legs that already have thirty kilometres in them. Run that stretch cleanly and with a short stride and you reach the last seven kilometres with intact legs; treat it as a gift and you will not.

The third factor is the clock and the climate. A marathon in south-eastern Spain at the end of November starts cool and finishes in midday sun, and the interurban kilometres offer little shade. The intermediate cut-offs - 20 km by 2:40, 30 km by 4:00, 40 km by 5:20 - are not an issue for most, but they define how long the course is supported at all. Drinking to a plan rather than to thirst is a racing question here, not a comfort one.

Training plan for Elche-Alicante International Marathon: 12-week build

For age-group runners Elche-Alicante is a three to five-and-a-half hour effort; the limit is 5:30 from the moment the first runner crosses the start mat. The demand is a steady aerobic one with an eccentric emphasis in the final third - a combination that looks easy on paper and is not in the legs.

That gives the most important specific stimulus: downhill running on tired legs. A long run whose closing ten kilometres are run at race pace on gently descending tarmac prepares for exactly the section between kilometres 26 and 35. Without that preparation, sixty metres of descent after thirty kilometres feels considerably more expensive than it looks.

Standard marathon work on flat ground goes alongside: long runs with forty to sixty minutes at race pace at the end, threshold runs of twenty to forty minutes. This course needs no uphill training - there is no climb that asks for strength.

Conditions are the real difference from a central European autumn marathon. The end of November on the Mediterranean means mild to warm air from late morning, thin cloud, and an open, barely shaded road between the cities. If you are travelling from the north, run part of your long runs under raised heat load and rehearse the drinking strategy over the full race duration. And because the coach leaves Alicante by 07:30 at the latest, there is more time between waking and the gun than at a home race - that too is worth a rehearsal.