Long Beach Marathon & Half Marathon

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Date

Oct 5, 2025

Starting Time

6:00 AM

Course

Road

Fees

$139+

Location

Long Beach

Participants

100-500

Terrain

Fast & Flat

Environment

Oceanfront

Temperature
High: 78°
/ Low: 60°
Overview

Featuring long stretches of beachfront runs along the Pacific coastline, the Long Beach Marathon, Half Marathon, 5K & 20-mile Bike Tour takes runners along a fast, flat course with some of the most scenic seaside running areas in California.

Both the full and half marathons start on East Shoreline Drive near the Downtown Shoreline Marina and Rainbow Lagoon Park, and from there the race heads over the Queensbay Bridge to the tourist ship the Queen Mary, and past sights like the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Lighthouse at Rainbow Harbor and Pierpoint Landing.

Mostly fast and flat, the half course features a slight incline over the Queensbay Bridge (between miles 2 and 3), and the rest of the course is flat.

Course Description

The full and half marathon participants run side by side until the half-marathoners split off from those running the full marathon, between the 10th and 11th miles, when the half marathoners then turn onto Ocean Boulevard for the return back to the starting & finish lines at the Shoreline Marina.
As you might expect with a beachside road race, the course elevation comes as advertised — there’s never more than a 45-ft-high elevation at any point in the course, of which nearly all is visible from the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
The race has a scheduled starting time of 6:00 AM for the full marathon and 7:30 AM for the half marathon, and runners have 6 hours to complete the half marathon course — which means it’s open to walkers as well as runners.
The race also includes a 5K that’s open to both runners and walkers and a one-mile fun run for kids — titled the Aquarium of the Pacific Fun Run — in addition to a separate wheelchair marathon and bicycle tour of the marathon course.

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