Palermo International Half Marathon: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The gathering is at 08:00 on the Viale Regina Elena in Mondello, in front of the Antico Stabilimento Balneare, the old bathing house out over the water; the start is at 09:30. From there the course climbs immediately: over the first three kilometres and a bit it rises from sea level to about sixty-five metres, across the flank of Monte Pellegrino, the mountain that separates Mondello from Palermo.

After that it falls for seven kilometres to around twenty-five metres and runs through the Parco della Favorita, the old royal hunting park, past the Palazzina Cinese and Villa Niscemi and on into the Liberty quarter to the Teatro Politeama - the turning point of the course. From there it climbs a second time, back to sixty-five metres between kilometres fourteen and eighteen, before the last three kilometres drop back to Mondello and finish where they started. In total 202 metres of climbing, just under a third of the course flat, and no steep section.

2026 is the thirteenth edition. The course is internationally certified and the race sits in the FIDAL calendar; it is put on by ASD Running Sicily. Alongside the half there are a 10 km and a 5 km plus two non-competitive Walkthon walks. The half's limit is three hours, after which traffic closure is no longer guaranteed, and bib collection happens only on the Friday and Saturday in Mondello - there is none on race day.

Pacing Strategy

This course makes pacing unusually simple by forcing it: the first climb begins effectively at the start arch. Sixty-five metres in a little over three kilometres is not a mountain, but it comes before anything is warm and in a dense field that has just set off. Run it at target race pace and you will have hit your highest heart rate of the day before kilometre four.

The middle section is the gift. Seven kilometres falling through the Parco della Favorita and down into the city to the Politeama - that is where time can be made without being paid for. The mistake is treating that descent as the normal state and setting your pace from it.

The race is decided between kilometres fourteen and eighteen, on the second climb back towards Mondello. It is another forty metres or so, but this time after fourteen kilometres and in late-morning sun. Run the first climb conservatively and the descent under control and you get through it and can still use the last three falling kilometres into Mondello; spend it early and this is exactly where you lose it. The climate compounds it: a 09:30 start in mid-October in Sicily puts that second climb in the warmest hour of the race.

Training plan for Palermo International Half Marathon: 12-week build

For most age-group runners the half is a 1:15 to 2:30 effort; the limit is three hours. The demand is a sustained near-threshold one with two moderate climbs at very unequal points - one right at the start, one in the final third - and no technical requirement at all.

The first training emphasis is therefore not strength but the ability to stay under target race pace uphill early in a race. A session that matches it: five minutes easy, then twelve to fifteen minutes of moderate climbing at race effort rather than race pace, followed immediately by thirty minutes running fast downhill and flat. That sequence is the first eleven kilometres of this course.

The second emphasis belongs to the second climb. Forty metres after an hour and a half of effort is a different task from the same forty metres fresh; put it at the end of a long run in training and you will know on race day what it costs. Standard threshold work goes alongside - intervals of six to twelve minutes and tempo runs of 25 to 45 minutes.

Conditions are the real difference from a central European autumn half. Mid-October in Palermo is already mild at 09:30 and gets warmer during the race; the coastal sections at Mondello are open and exposed to wind, the Parco della Favorita gives shade and the city sections give almost none. If you are travelling from the north, run some sessions under raised heat load and build the drinking strategy around the three aid stations and three sponge stations the organiser puts on the course.