Kyoto Marathon, live.

Seven World Heritage sites on one course

The Kyoto Marathon runs from the west of the city to Heian-jingu Shrine, past seven UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites.

The 2027 Kyoto Marathon is on Sunday 21 February. The wheelchair race starts at 08:55, the marathon and the Pair-Ekiden start together at 09:00, and both close at 15:00 after a time limit of 6 hours from the gun. The start is at TAKEBISHI Stadium Kyoto in Nishikyogoku Athletic Park and the finish is in front of Heian-jingu Shrine, on a course certified by the Japan Association of Athletics Federations and accredited by World Athletics and AIMS.

The marathon field is 16,000 people. The Pair-Ekiden is a relay for 250 pairs, where the first runner covers about 27.6 km and the second about 14.6 km. The wheelchair race is 6.1 km.

The route is the reason people come. It follows the Katsura River with a view of Togetsukyo Bridge in Arashiyama, passes through Sagano and Hirosawa-no-ike Pond, joins Kinukake-no-michi Road, crosses the Kyoto Botanical Gardens and runs along the Kamo River and through Kyoto Gyoen National Garden. Tenryu-ji, Ninna-ji, Ryoan-ji, Kinkaku-ji, Kamigamo-jinja, Shimogamo-jinja and Ginkaku-ji all sit along the way.

From the course runners can see all five mountains of the Gozan Okuribi bonfires, and the start stadium is the same one used by the national high school ekiden and the Empress's Cup women's ekiden. The Pair-Ekiden handover is in the Kyoto Botanical Gardens. For spectators the riverside stretches and the finish area near Heian-jingu Shrine are good places to watch, and public transport is the easy way around on a day of road closures.

On Livebib you can follow a participant who chooses to share their own live position from the phone they carry. This is not the organiser's timing, and the official results come from the Kyoto Marathon.