MarathonStay

Every marathon is 42.2km long, which tells you nothing about where to sleep. The number that matters on a point-to-point course is the straight-line gap between the start and the finish, because that is the distance your race morning has to cross before the gun and your legs have to cross after it.

We geocoded both ends of every point-to-point race we cover and computed the distance. Across 14 measured races the gap runs from 1.17km to 67.5km, with a median of 12.82km. That spread is the whole argument: one piece of advice cannot serve both ends of it.

RaceStart to finishStartFinishThe point that governs your morning
Comrades Marathon67.5 kmPietermaritzburg (2027 Down Run)Durban (2027 Down Run)Pietermaritzburg, the 05:00 start, and almost no beds
Grandma's Marathon41.7 kmTwo Harbors, MinnesotaCanal Park, DuluthYour assigned bus pickup, the DECC if you want to park near the finish
Boston Marathon39.5 kmHopkinton, Main StreetBoylston Street, Back BayBus loading, Charles Street
Big Sur International Marathon36.5 kmBig Sur Station, Highway 1Marathon Village, Highway 1 & Rio Road, Carmelthe Carmel Plaza bus pick-up, 1.35km from the finish
Loch Ness Marathon33 kmMoorland between Whitebridge and Fort Augustus, south side of Loch NessBught Park Event Village, InvernessInverness Ice Centre, the only coach departure that brings you back
Athens Marathon28.24 kmMarathon, AtticaPanathenaic Stadium, AthensYour boarding point in central Athens
New York City Marathon21.43 kmFort Wadsworth, Staten IslandCentral Park, ManhattanYour selected departure point
Twin Cities Marathon12.82 km615 South 6th Street, MinneapolisState Capitol grounds, Saint PaulThe Minneapolis start, the finish is 12.8km away and bussed
London Marathon10.21 kmGreenwich and Blackheath, five assembly areasThe Mall, WestminsterYour assigned assembly area, Greenwich
Edinburgh Marathon8.43 kmEdinburgh city centreMusselburgh, East LothianMusselburgh finish, and the way back
Tokyo Marathon6.71 kmTokyo Metropolitan Government Building, ShinjukuTokyo Station / Gyoko-dori AvenueTokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Shinjuku
Honolulu Marathon5.95 kmAla Moana BoulevardKapiolani ParkWaikiki: 1.9km to the start, 1.8km to the finish
Marine Corps Marathon2.53 kmRunners Village, North Pentagon parking lotMarine Corps War Memorial, ArlingtonRosslyn, the finish, the baggage trucks and the Metro
Sydney Marathon1.17 kmSt Leonards Park, Miller St, North SydneySydney Opera House ForecourtNorth Sydney station
UTMB Mont-Blancnot measured———
Two Oceans Marathonnot measuredSouthern suburbs: 2027 start points not yet publishedUCT Rugby Fields, RondeboschUCT Rugby Fields, the finish for every event of the week

Read the last column, not the second

The distance column shows how wrong the naive answer can be. The final column shows what to do instead, and the two rarely agree.

At Boston the start and finish sit 39.5km apart, but the point that decides your morning is a bus loading area on Charles Street, beside the finish. At Big Sur the gap is 36.5km and the decisive point is a shopping plaza in Carmel, because Highway 1 is closed to private cars and the bus returns you where you boarded. In both cases a hotel near the start line is the worst available choice, and in both cases it is the one a distance-sorted hotel list recommends first.

Comrades is the extreme. Start and finish are 67.5km apart, the direction reverses every year, and the correct city therefore changes annually. Sydney is the opposite: 1.17km apart, the shortest separation we have measured, and yet still hard, because those 1.17km cross a harbour on a bridge the race itself closes.

Which is the real lesson of this page. A small gap does not mean an easy morning, and a large one does not always mean a hard one. What matters is whether anything stands between you and the point you have to reach.

Every point-to-point race we cover

  1. AprLondon MarathonP2PLondon, United KingdomIn 2027 it runs across two days, and your day is drawn for youGuide →
  2. AugUTMB Mont-BlancP2PChamonix, FranceChamonix fills within days of the draw, and much of it never reaches an OTAIn production
  3. NovNew York City MarathonP2PNew York, United StatesYou pre-book your ride, and the departure points are 6km apartGuide →
  4. JunGrandma's MarathonP2PDuluth, Minnesota, United StatesTwo Harbors start, and Duluth's bed count is smaller than the fieldGuide →
  5. SepLoch Ness MarathonP2PInverness, Scotland, United KingdomYou cannot reach the start yourself — one coach out of InvernessGuide →
  6. MarTokyo MarathonP2PTokyo, JapanShinjuku start, Tokyo Station finish, and the clock runs on gun timeGuide →
  7. JunComrades MarathonP2PDurban / Pietermaritzburg, South AfricaThe direction alternates every year, so does the right place to stayGuide →
  8. OctMarine Corps MarathonP2PArlington, Virginia, United StatesScreened at both ends, and your bag finishes in a third placeGuide →
  9. AugSydney MarathonP2PSydney, AustraliaA harbour crossing splits the city on race morningGuide →
  10. AprBoston MarathonP2PBoston, Massachusetts, United StatesThe start line is 26 miles from where you should sleepGuide →
  11. NovAthens MarathonP2PAthens, GreeceThe original point-to-point — Marathon town has almost no bedsGuide →
  12. AprTwo Oceans MarathonP2PCape Town, South AfricaA new two-day format, +50% capacity, everything finishing at UCTGuide →
  13. MayEdinburgh MarathonP2PEdinburgh, United KingdomIt finishes in Musselburgh, not Edinburgh — plan the return, not the startGuide →
  14. OctTwin Cities MarathonP2PMinneapolis / Saint Paul, Minnesota, United StatesTwo cities 12.8km apart, and only one of them has the bedsGuide →
  15. DecHonolulu MarathonP2PHonolulu, Hawaii, United StatesA 5am start, no cut-off at all, and low-80s heat by mid-morningGuide →
  16. AprBig Sur International MarathonP2PCarmel, California, United StatesThe bus is compulsory, and it returns you where you startedGuide →

Distances are straight-line, geocoded by us and rounded to the nearest 10m. They are deliberately not course distances, which are 42.2km for every race here. Where a race shows "not measured", the organiser has not published a start point we can measure from, Two Oceans is in that position for 2027, and we would rather show the gap than estimate it.

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