The third Sunday of October is earmarked for the Bangalore marathon. The schedule was disrupted in 2020 & 21 because of COVID. The Bengaluru marathon returns to its rightful place on the calendar this year. The race is in its ninth year, and it continues to grow year after year, securing a prominent place on the Indian marathon racing calendar.
The race route spans the heart of the city covering the Central Business District, the famous Cubbon park, and other landmarks within and around the park. This article will help you to get familiar with the route, elevation, and insights.
Weather
The weather forecast is cloudy, and light rain is expected during the race hours. The humidity is expected to be at 70%. Temperature is fortunately expected to be between 18-23 degrees. The wind direction is from the West, with an average speed of 7 km/h, which wouldn’t affect racing much.
This could be one of the best weather conditions here for personal bests if the rain gods are kind.
Bangalore’s beauty is best enjoyed on Sunday morning when the city is still asleep and with no traffic around. This year, the race is on October 16th, 2022 (Sunday), and flags off from Kanteerava Stadium, the route is a loop for Half marathoners and two loops for marathoners. You will run through Cubbon Park, Vidhana Soudha, State Library, GPO, and the famous MG Road.
Cubbon park is spread over 120 Hectares and is home to more than 6000 trees, for first time runners; take deep breaths in there :) also, you will be running close to 10k in and around the park with a few “sharp” and some “U” turns. For those running this course for the first time, the park has deceiving uphills on some stretches, thus it will be important to pace yourself accordingly. The metro at MG road, made the whole stretch vibrant getting us in the mood to match its colorful graffiti through its stretch, this road has a decline, however, as we take a “U” turn, it will incline as well. Be watchful.
Interactive Map
For an interactive marathon & half-marathon route with detailed elevation profile, click the button below.
Please note that these maps are optimized for desktop. To use them on mobile please rotate phone to landscape mode.
Start Point: Kanteerava Stadium Holding area for the marathon is at Kanteerava Stadium, which will provide a lot of space for warm-up, there is also a 200mts track and you can also run round around the stadium. You can keep your belongings at the baggage counter within the stadium. Plenty of makeshift restrooms for men and women and a hot delicious breakfast served post-run.
Race Start: The race starts within the stadium and you have to cross a narrow gate to reach the main road. Runners running this route for the first time watch out, as it can get chaotic, start slower than your usual pace, and also remember there is a slight elevation to reach the main road from the stadium.
First 3 kilometers: Once you hit the main road runners will take a left for cubbon park, you will be running your first 3 kms towards the state library and then take a left from the dog park, exiting Cubbon park at Century club exit towards Vidhana Soudha. Here is a slight incline for 500mts., maintain a steady pace. The landmark Vidhana Soudha will be on your left while you cruise through it towards GPO then to Minsk square. You will take a “U” turn here to enter cubbon again from the high court entrance.
4 to 6 kilometers: As you cruise towards Queen’s Park, this stretch of cubbon will be from 3kms through 5kms. From Queen’s park you will take a right and also experience a bit of down hill towards Minsk square, this loss of elevation will be till CCD Square, exiting Cubbon park and take a left towards Kasturba Road.
7 kilometer: Kasturba road has a good elevation and continues for about 800 mts, which meets Queen’s road connecting you to Cubbon road. Watch out as this is one of the toughest kilometers. A good distraction is Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy stadium towards your right. Pace yourself well here.
8 to 12 kilometers: Kilometers 8th through 12th are rolling with net decline in elevation, and has straight roads and few sharp turns. You will run from Cubbon road all the way till Manipal center and take a “U” turn. On your way back to Cubbon road there is a detour towards Anil Kumble circle and back. Take deep breaths and enjoy your steady tempo pace.
13 to 16 kilometers: You will experience an elevation loss all through MG Road till Manipal centre junction (u-turn point) and then back towards Kasturba Road which will entail 13th through 16th Kms. And you will come back on the same route thus have a mental frame set for the tempo and the return uphill task :). By now you are already sweating.
Last 5 kilometers: This is good news for half marathoners as you have just 5 more kilometers left, in and around Cubbon park. You will trace the route back the same way you entered cubbon i.e. Queens Park, Vidhana Soudha and back into Cubbon park crossing the State library on your left. You will cover 16th through 20th kms. and now is the last spell of the race coming out of the gate towards the finish line, set your mind right and your strides straight. Give yourself a pep talk, get the best of the downhill, and cross the finish line with a champion’s smile. For the marathoners, you go through the same drill twice!
| #KM in 1st loop | #KM in 2nd loop | Description | Elevation Gain (in m) | Elevation loss (in m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22.1 | Start to Cubbon Park gate | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | 23.1 | Cubbon park straight and Century club gate | 9 | 3 |
| 3 | 24.1 | Reaching Vidhana Soudha | 12 | 0 |
| 4 | 25.1 | Vidhana Soudha and Queens Park | 3 | 10 |
| 5 | 26.1 | Inside Cubbon Park | 0 | 9 |
| 6 | 27.1 | Kasturba Road | 3 | 9 |
| 7 | 28.1 | Kasturba Road & Queens road | 9 | 0 |
| 8 | 29.1 | Cubbon Road | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | 30.1 | Cubbon Road | 0 | 8 |
| 10 | 31.1 | Cubbon Road | 5 | 0 |
| 11 | 32.1 | Cubbon Road | 3 | 1 |
| 12 | 33.1 | Queens Road & MG Road | 0 | 6 |
| 13 | 34.1 | MG Road | 2 | 7 |
| 14 | 35.1 | MG Road | 6 | 3 |
| 15 | 36.1 | MG Road | 2 | 3 |
| 16 | 37.1 | Kasturba Road | 1 | 9 |
| 17 | 38.1 | Cubbon Park | 7 | 4 |
| 18 | 39.1 | Queens Park | 10 | 1 |
| 19 | 40.1 | Vidhana Soudha | 2 | 12 |
| 20 | 41.1 | Vidhana Soudha into Cubbon park again | 2 | 10 |
| 21.1 | 42.2 | Cubbon Park to Finish line | 0 | 3 |
GPX, Strava and Garmin Routes
If you want to do your own analysis of the route, and you are Strava or a Garmin user, you can click the picture below to follow the route.
If you are feeling Geeky, here is the GPX file!
Post finish: Your medal will be handed over shortly after crossing the finish line. Wear it proudly. Use the space inside the Kanteerva stadium to cool down – don’t stop after the race, walk for a bit, do your stretches.
Once you have caught up with your friends and taken enough pictures for social media, don’t forget to have a warm & delicious breakfast. The event tried to be green to the maximum extent, so please ensure you do your bit. If possible avoid throwing your plastic bottle and use the same for refills.
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