Worried about marathon cutoffs? Osaka if you cross the start late, Kobe if you fade late

Boston, United States

1Boston — no intermediate cut-offs, followed by 4 climbs after 26km

Boston has no section-by-section cut-off point table. Only one finish closes, at 5:30 p.m.

That is the time set to reopen the roads through the eight cities and towns on the course route; runners arriving afterward receive a finish finisher medal, but the final results list them as 'Post-Race Participant.' Clocks throughout the course show the same 5:30 p.m.

cutoff. Wave 1 starts at 10:00, and Wave 6 at 11:21, leaving the final wave 6 hours 9 minutes. With no cut-off point closing in stages along the route, the document needed to read course comes down to the elevation profile.

From Hopkinton to Boylston Street, total ascent is 246.88m and total descent 375.95m. Together, that makes a net descent of 129m. But the descent comes early.

At 26km, the mark enters Newton, where four climbs arrive in succession, the last of them Heartbreak Hill. From 32.67km to 33.33km, the course rises 27.5m over 660m, for an average gradient of 4.20%. A net descent is easy to read as a fast course.

Boston’s elevation profile records the order of events. The legs cash in the early downhill miles on four climbs after 26km.

Boston MarathonMon, April 19, 2027 · D-204 · Boston, United StatesSee race details

Boston Marathon · Read the story

Osaka, Japan

2Osaka Marathon — evenly spaced cut-offs, with the first 5km the key hurdle

Divide the ten cut-off point points in the 2026 Osaka Marathon by distance and time, and the pattern is nearly a straight line. The race starts at 9:15, with the 5.0km cut-off point at 10:44. From there to 11.8km, the required pace is 8 minutes 49 seconds per kilometer; to 16.5km, 8 minutes 56 seconds; to 22.6km, 8 minutes 41 seconds; and to 25.6km, 9 minutes.

Through 30.5km and 34.2km, then to 37.4km, it stays between 8 minutes 45 seconds and 8 minutes 55 seconds. The first real easing comes after 39.4km: 9 minutes 30 seconds to the 41.4km cut-off point, then 8 minutes for the remaining 795m to the finish inside Osaka Castle Park. When the cut-off point intervals are this even, the reading is clear: there is no course section for which the organizers have added extra time.

In this city course, starting outside Osaka Prefectural Government and finishing inside Osaka Castle Park, the required pace is almost unchanged from start to finish. That leaves one warning in the cut-off point table: the opening stretch. The first 5km allows 89 minutes, while covering 5km at the pace required in the later sections takes about 44 minutes.

The 45-minute difference is the entire buffer available for congestion before the start line, and not once before 41km does a section restore that time.

Osaka Marathon 2027Sun, February 28, 2027 · D-154 · Osaka, JapanSee race details

Osaka Marathon 2027 · Read the story

Kobe, Japan

3Kobe — 10m of elevation change, with tight cut-offs through 23.9km

Kobe Marathon's official elevation profile is scaled to 50m on the vertical axis, yet the line stays glued to the bottom. The organizers put the total elevation change at about 10m. Only two narrow peaks catch the eye, just after 9km and around 32km.

The course heads west from Kobe City Hall through Suma and Tarumi, turns at Okura Coast, where the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge comes into view, and finishes at Kobe Harborland. The two peaks sit almost symmetrically on either side of turnaround point. The ground is flat, but the cut-off point table is not.

Reading the 11 scheduled cut-off point together, the required pace from 3.8km to 23.9km ranges from 8 minutes 31 seconds to 8 minutes 45 seconds per kilometer. The allowance loosens to 9 minutes 22 seconds through 27.1km, 9 minutes 45 seconds through 31.1km, 10 minutes through 32.7km, 10 minutes 22 seconds through 35.4km, and 10 minutes 40 seconds through 39.8km. For the final 2.395km, 11 minutes 16 seconds per kilometer is allowed.

This slope, unexplained by the terrain, shows that the organizers have added time for late-race fatigue. As a result, the point at which runners in Kobe reach cut-off point comes earlier. The first cut-off point, at 3.8km, closes at 10 a.

m., 60 minutes after the first starting signal. The time limit 7-hour limit is measured from the first signal at 9 a.

m.; the second wave starts at 9:15 a.m.

For runners at the back of the second wave who were late reaching start line, the key point in this course comes well before turnaround point, where the bridge first appears—during the first hour, before reaching the Suma coast.

KOBE MARATHON 2026Sun, November 15, 2026 · D-49 · Kobe, JapanSee race details

Kanazawa, Japan

4Kanazawa Marathon — a long early climb and the first cut-off at 5.4km

Kanazawa Marathon's course guide gives no elevation figures. The clue is hidden in the aid-station descriptions. The organizers describe the station around 11.2km as a place to encourage runners who have completed the long opening climb.

Course follows a loop through seven zones, from the historic scenery of Kenrokuen, Ishikawa-mon Gate at Kanazawa Castle and Higashiyama to the rural zone, with distant views of the Hakusan range. The course also includes a mountain-side arterial road usually reached only by car and a viaduct crossing the river terrace. It starts at 8:30 a.

m. in front of the Shiinoki Cultural Complex and finishes at the Ishikawa Prefecture Seibu Ryokuchi Park Athletics Stadium. It is a World Athletics- and AIMS-certified course.

Overlay the nine cut-off point, and one section stands out. Between the 8.6km cut-off point (10:13 a.m.)

, which covers the end of the climb at 11.2km, and the 15.9km cut-off point (11:20 a.m.), runners get 67 minutes for 7.3km, or 9 minutes 11 seconds per kilometer.

In the preceding 5.4km to 8.6km, the allowance is 9 minutes 4 seconds; the following sections range from 9 minutes 11 seconds to 9 minutes 27 seconds. The course does not grant extra time for the stretch containing the long climb. The only conspicuous easing comes after the 38.8km cut-off point, when 37 minutes are allowed for the final 3.395km.

The time limit 7-hour limit is based on the first wave's gun time, and results are recorded as gross time from each wave's gun. Starting outside the assigned wave may result in disqualification. For later waves, that means entering the climb with any time already lost at start line still on the clock.

That makes the calculation for this course finish before the 11.2km aid station. How many minutes ahead of the first cut-off point at 5.4km (9:44 a.m.)

determines how much the pace can ease on the climb.

Kanazawa Marathon 2026Sun, October 25, 2026 · D-28 · Kanazawa, JapanSee race details

Fukuoka, Japan

5Fukuoka Marathon — the tightest cut-off comes after the Kyushu University climb

Fukuoka Marathon is a point-to-point course that starts at 8:20 a.m. on Tenjin Watanabe-dori and finishes near the Shima-kan building at the Itoshima City Exchange Plaza.

The organizers describe it as suitable for beginners because it has few major rises and falls, while singling out two demanding points: the gradual climb toward the Kyushu University Ito Campus entrance around 20km, and the 25m elevation change leading to Futamigaura around 35km. Dividing the nine cut-off point by distance and time gives a required pace ranging from 9 minutes 25 seconds to 9 minutes 47 seconds per kilometer. The spread is narrow.

The order matters. The tightest section is the 9 minutes 25 seconds from 19.8km to 25.0km, after passing the campus cut-off point. Next comes the 9 minutes 27 seconds from 14.3km, climbing toward the 19.8km cut-off point in front of the campus.

Third is the 9 minutes 30 seconds from 32.9km to 36.9km, which includes Futamigaura. The loosest section runs from 25.0km at Imazu Sports Park to 29.8km at Kitazaki Elementary School, at 9 minutes 47 seconds per kilometer. Every race advises banking time before a climb.

Fukuoka's cut-off point table puts that advice into numbers. After climbing, runners go straight into the day's tightest section with tired legs, making the slope at the Kyushu University campus entrance a test set by two cut-off point at once: 19.8km and 25.0km.

Fukuoka Marathon 2026Sun, November 8, 2026 · D-42 · Fukuoka, JapanSee race details

Toyama, Japan

6Toyama Marathon — in severe weather, an uncertified course replaces the route over Shinminato Bridge

Toyama Marathon starts at 9 a.m. in front of Takaoka City Hall, passes through Imizu, and finishes at Kansui Park beside the Fugan Canal in Toyama.

Midway through the course, runners pass Shinminato Fishing Port and the sailing ship Kaiwomaru before climbing onto Shinminato Bridge, with one condition attached: if the organizers determine that the bridge cannot be used because of severe weather, the course is operated as an unofficial sub-course. Even on the same day, finishing the same race does not guarantee an official course result; the morning weather decides. All 10 cut-off point are published by location, but only the first and last include distances.

The point near 9.2km at Takaoka Driving School is timed for 10:41 a.m.; the point near 41.6km at the Kibamachi intersection is timed for 3:59 p.

m. From the start to the first cut-off point, 101 minutes are allowed. From there to the final cut-off point, 318 minutes are allowed for 32.4km, or 9 minutes 49 seconds per kilometer.

The eight locations in between become legible only when plotted on a map. The third cut-off point, in front of the Shinminato Fisheries Cooperative Association, is timed for 12:09 p.m.

; the fourth cut-off point, in front of Horioka Elementary School after the bridge, is timed for 12:51 p.m. The two cut-off point, with the port and bridge between them, are 42 minutes apart.

The course changed slightly in 2026. The Akasofu turnaround point is about 260m shorter, the Imizu old course turnaround point about 180m shorter, and the finish section about 440m longer. Timing is recorded at the start, every 5km, the halfway point and finish.

The entry requirements state that runners must be capable of finishing within 6 hours 45 minutes, making the 15-minute gap from the 7-hour limit the margin built into this race. The cut-off point table, with no distances, is easy to skim past. In Toyama, it should be read the other way around.

The first number to check is not time limit but the 42 minutes from the port, across the bridge and on to Horioka.

Toyama Marathon 2026Sun, November 1, 2026 · D-35 · Toyama, JapanSee race details