Tokushima Marathon 2027

Tokushima Marathon 2027 marks the 20th anniversary of one of Shikoku's established city marathons and introduces a completely redesigned course. The marathon is also designated as the World Masters Games 2027 Kansai Tokushima Prefecture Open Competition Marathon. The organiser says the 42.195 km course is expected to receive World Athletics, AIMS and JAAF sanctioning.

The marathon starts near Tokugin Tomoni Arena in central Tokushima and finishes at Pocari Sweat Stadium in Naruto. The new route leaves the city centre, crosses and follows sections of the Yoshino River, then continues through Kitajima and towards Naruto. Published course points include Tamiya Kaido, Yoshinogawa Bridge, Shirasagi Ohashi Bridge, the Yoshino River estuary, Kitajima Town Hall and Kitajima Central Park. The official elevation profile is predominantly low and flat, with several short bridge rises rather than sustained climbing.

Race day is Sunday, 14 March 2027. The first marathon wave starts at 08:20 JST and the second at 08:30, with the competition ending at 15:00. The time limit is 6 hours 30 minutes from the second-wave start. The marathon has capacity for 8,500 runners. A separate, untimed Challenge Run of approximately 2 km starts at 09:00 inside Naruto Otsuka Sports Park and has a 600-person capacity and one-hour limit.

Entries are first-come, first-served. The 1,500-place Tokushima resident priority allocation reached capacity before its scheduled closing date. The athlete category remains scheduled through 19 October, while general marathon, hometown-tax and Challenge Run entries run from 1 October to 30 November unless their quotas fill earlier. The athlete category requires a qualifying marathon result, with an SS start block available to runners meeting the faster published standard.

There is no in-person pre-race registration or expo check-in requirement. Athlete bibs and participant materials are scheduled to be mailed around late February, and runners report directly to their assigned start block on race morning. The start area is about a five-minute walk from JR Tokushima Station. Temporary runner parking requires advance booking, while organiser shuttle buses connect selected parking areas, the finish venue and central Tokushima after the race.