Gyeongju Marathon

Course & Elevation

The Gyeongju International Marathon is a road marathon in Gyeongju, South Korea, held on a Saturday in mid-October and organised by Gyeongju city and North Gyeongsang province with the Korea athletics federation and the newspaper Dong-A Ilbo. The start and finish are at Gyeongju Citizen Stadium, and the first start is at 8:00 am. The course is a loop through the city centre past Cheomseongdae, Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond, Daereungwon and the Cheonmachong tomb, which are part of Gyeongju's UNESCO World Heritage historic areas. The marathon is held together with a half marathon and a 10 km race. The time limit for the full course is five hours. The race holds a World Athletics Elite Label, which Dong-A Ilbo describes as the only one in Korea. In 2026 the race had a record 20,000 masters runners and 54 elite runners. The event record is 2:06:46, set in 2012 by Wilson Loyanae Erupe of Kenya, who has since become a Korean citizen under the name Oh Ju-han. In 2026 Mulugeta Asefa Uma of Ethiopia won in 2:06:56, ten seconds short of it.