Runners start · local time — Marathon first wave starts at 8:20, second wave at 8:30 (2 km Challenge Run at 9:00)
The Tokushima Marathon is hosted jointly by Tokushima Prefecture and Tokushima City, and draws around 7,000 runners every spring.
Through the March 2026 race, the course was an out-and-back along the Yoshino River embankment.
Runners' reports agreed that the open views are great, but the scenery changes little,
spectators are sparse on the embankment sections, and it is easy to wear down mentally.
So for the 20th anniversary race in 2027, the course has been changed completely.
The new course starts in front of the gymnasium near Tokushima Station, runs along the south bank of the Yoshino River,
over Shirasagi Bridge and the turnaround point at the river mouth, then along the north bank,
loops through the city, passes Kitajima and Naruto, and ends at Pocari Sweat Stadium.
The turnaround point is around 24.4 km.
The official site describes it as taking in the city, the Yoshino River and Mt. Bizan all at once, but official certification is still in progress.
The time limit is 6 hours 30 minutes based on the second-wave start, and there are 11 cut-off point.
Finishers receive an original finisher medal and a finisher towel.
The participation T-shirt is a mont-bell product, available only to those who want it for an extra 3,000 yen.
Guests include Paris Olympic marathoner Naoki Koyama.
For reference, in the 2025 race 6,242 of 6,964 starters finished, a finish rate of 89.6 percent.
With such a high finish rate, many first-time full marathon runners come here.
Separately from the main race, a roughly 2 km Challenge Run for elementary school children and older is held the same day.
