Participants can choose between two demanding routes: the long course of 121 km with 2.020 meters of elevation gain, and the shorter 86 km course, with 1.430 meters of elevation gain. Both routes are roughly 90% off-road. From the long route, qualification spots for the 2027 UCI Gravel World Championships will be awarded to elite men and women, as well as men aged 19–59 and women aged 19–49. From the shorter route, qualification will be available for men aged 60+ and women aged 50+.
Both courses start at the Marathon Stadium. Riders cross the town and soon begin a gentle four-kilometer climb that ends with a small surprise: a 300 meter concrete wall where the gradient reaches 12%.
They then enter a beautiful five kilometer gravel section through nature and along the shores of Lake Marathon, on soft terrain that continues into farm roads where rough and smoother gravel alternate constantly. After completing the loop around the lake and crossing a shallow stream, riders tackle a 600-meter climb with gradients up to 11%.
In the final 1.5 kilometers, the route returns to asphalt, passing over the iconic Marathon Dam to complete the first 36-kilometer loop. The long course includes this loop three times, while the shorter course includes it twice.
“The Gravel of Marathon” finishes in the center of Marathon, where every rider will feel the satisfaction of having fought their own personal “Battle of Marathon,” this time with bicycles as their “weapons” and gravel roads as their “battlefield.”