Gyeongju Marathon

Information and registration is not available in English. The organization behind this is not interested in having foreign runners.

Gyeongju marathon is exceptional for more than one reason, however some little aspects are to be improved specially for international runners. Starting with the good things, the location is exceptional and has an important historical background, Gyeongju was the ancient capital of Silla Kingdom. The city is quite pretty with lot-of facilities (hotels, restaurants,...) and very easy to access from Busan (1h bus). The marathon track will take you through nice places specially the first half with regular water and energy drinks supplies, more or less every 5km. Regularly tradinional Koreans Drums bands will play, not only the rythme of the drums is motivating but the players themselves will be encouraging, from my point of view, these traditional drums are the soul of this marathon and what make it exceptional. Globally, the organisation on-site is good, once you arrive to the departure everything ia quite clear and efficient, in 5mn you can register you bag and get ready to run. Now, from my point of view some little improvements are to be done on the registration process, though the website is in english I faced some issues with information not translated. The worst parts of the registration are, first the korean address (i think many people gave up because of that, in my case i managed to put my hotel address in korean than send then an email to change). The second is the payment, also fully in Korean. There are also some small issues with the shuttle bus to take you to the departure which was a bit difficult to find and also the information booth not clearly indicated. However, frankly speaking, Korean are very helpful and most of the time they will help you to get out of any situation , like it happened to me :). To finish on a positive note, yes this marathon totally worth it, go without hesitation :)

I think that the race packs can be delivered if a Korean address is given. Some of us are foreigners residing in Korea. However, the race was great and the rain added a bit of excitement to the event.

The distance was relatively flat with minimal slopes in between. The traffic control and cheerful crowds were amazing.

Great running route, love the atmosphere here in Gyeongju.