29th Nagano Marathon 2027

The 29th Nagano Marathon returns on Sunday, 18 April 2027, continuing a race launched in 1999 from the legacy of the long-running Shinmai Marathon and the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. The event brings elite and mass-participation runners onto the same 42.195 km course and has become an established spring fixture in Nagano. The 2027 race is also an Abbott World Marathon Majors MTT Age Group World Ranking qualifying event.

The JAAF- and AIMS-certified point-to-point course starts at Nagano Sports Park and finishes inside Nagano Olympic Stadium. It passes the Zenkoji temple approach and several 1998 Winter Olympic venues, including Big Hat, M-Wave and White Ring, before later sections beside the Chikuma River. Official course guidance describes a relatively modest 43 m elevation range, from 340 m to 383 m. Runners should still manage the course carefully: there is an early downhill and narrow cobbled section near Zenkoji, a gradual climb around 19-21 km, the locally nicknamed "two-humped camel" undulations after 30 km, and a late riverside section that can be exposed to wind.

The race starts at 08:30 JST and has a five-hour overall limit, with nine checkpoints at roughly 5 km intervals. Start blocks are assigned using declared predicted and best times. Organiser-provided water points are available on course, and non-valuable baggage can be left at the start-area baggage facility.

General entry closed after reaching capacity on 9 October 2026, according to the organiser. The original application window opened on 12 September with 9,700 general places plus a 300-place advance hotel package; the advertised final deadline had been 1 November. Domestic runners are scheduled to receive athlete bibs, timing tags and the participant shirt by post around two weeks to 10 days before race day. Exact overseas registration-desk arrangements remain TBA. A Nagano Marathon Welcome Festival is planned for 17 April.