⏵ Course guide · Highway 1, Hurricane Point, and the wind
Big Sur runs point-to-point on Highway 1 from Big Sur to Carmel, climbing more than 2 miles to Hurricane Point around mile 10-12 before descending to the Bixby Bridge, almost always into a real coastal headwind. I will walk you through the course and the lottery entry first, then give you a pacing plan built for wind and rollers rather than a flat pace chart, plus free tools to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from bigsurmarathon.org and public race reporting. Confirm the current-year lottery window and checkpoint cutoffs on bigsurmarathon.org before you commit.
Big Sur runs point-to-point on Highway 1, starting south of Carmel and heading north up the coast, constant rollers from start to finish.
The defining feature of this course is the climb to Hurricane Point, more than 2 miles long and gaining over 500 feet, arriving around miles 10 to 12. It comes early enough that you cannot treat it as a finishing kick, and its length means there is no shortcut through it, only pacing it honestly.
After Hurricane Point, the course descends a long stretch down to the Bixby Bridge, traditionally marked by a pianist playing as runners pass, one of the most recognizable moments in American marathoning. It is a genuine reward, but the descent also asks something of your legs after the Hurricane Point climb, so do not treat it as free recovery.
Big Sur runs a coastal route that is frequently, sometimes brutally, windy, usually a headwind out of the north or northwest. Combined with the constant rollers, the wind is often what separates a good day here from a rough one, more than the climbing itself.
With limited or no official pacing support and hard checkpoints at mile 15.2 and mile 21.2, Big Sur rewards a plan built around effort and margin, not a fixed pace target.
A grade-adjusted target for the Hurricane Point climb gives you an honest number for what your effort should look like across that 2-plus mile stretch, instead of a flat pace that falls apart on the grade or in the wind.
Because Big Sur pulls runners who miss the mile 15.2 checkpoint (10:30 a.m.) or the mile 21.2 checkpoint (11:50 a.m.), do not plan a pace that only just makes those windows. A vert-aware finish projection, checked against those specific checkpoint times rather than just the overall 6-hour limit, tells you how much real buffer you are carrying.
⏵ Free tools to pace this course
⏵ Train for it with Summit Line
Get a race-day plan built around YOUR fitness, this Hurricane Point climbing profile, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for sustained climbing and wind, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
Big Sur is one of the hardest big-field marathons in the country, and it is a bucket-list scenery course, not a PR course. The route runs constant rollers on Highway 1, building to a signature climb to Hurricane Point around mile 10-12, more than 2 miles long and gaining over 500 feet, before a long descent to the Bixby Bridge, where a pianist traditionally plays as runners pass. Add a frequent, sometimes brutal headwind out of the north, and the combination of sustained climbing, rolling terrain, and wind makes this a genuinely tough 26.2 miles regardless of your fitness level.
Hurricane Point is the defining climb of the Big Sur Marathon, a sustained ascent of more than 2 miles gaining over 500 feet, arriving around miles 10 to 12. It is not the steepest grade you will ever run, but its length, combined with whatever headwind is blowing that day, makes it the mental and physical crux of the race. After the climb, the course descends a long stretch down to the Bixby Bridge, one of the most photographed moments in American marathoning.
Treat this as a wind-and-rollers course, not a pace-chart course. Run Hurricane Point by effort rather than trying to hold a set pace up a 2-plus mile climb, and expect the descent to Bixby Bridge to feel like a reward, but do not let it pull you into a pace you cannot sustain through the rolling miles after. Because official pacing support is limited or nonexistent here, the rollers and wind make a fixed pace target unreliable, build your race around effort and the hard mile-15.2 and mile-21.2 checkpoints instead.
The overall course limit is about 6 hours, with the course reopening to traffic at 1:00 p.m. Two hard intermediate checkpoints matter even more: you must reach mile 15.2 by 10:30 a.m. and mile 21.2 by 11:50 a.m., or you are pulled from the course and transported to the finish. Because of the wind and the Hurricane Point climb, build real margin into your pacing plan for those checkpoints rather than assuming an even pace will get you there on schedule.
Entry is through a random drawing, not first-come registration or a time standard. The 2026 lottery cycle ran roughly August 19 to September 2, with winners announced September 8, and the 2027 cycle is expected on a similar timeline. Because the scenic Highway 1 road limits the field to roughly 4,500 to 6,000 marathon runners, plan to apply during that late-summer window rather than assuming you can register whenever you decide to run it.
Late April on the Central California coast means cool temperatures, frequent fog, and, most importantly, wind. Highs typically run 55-65°F, but the wind, not the temperature, is the story most years: a headwind out of the north or northwest is common and can meaningfully slow your pace, especially through the exposed climb to Hurricane Point. Dress in removable layers and set your pacing expectations around the wind forecast, not just the temperature.
Link this guide
Race directors and clubs: link or embed this guide anywhere. It stays current.
<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/big-sur-marathon">The Big Sur International Marathon course guide</a><iframe src="https://runsummitline.com/embed/race/big-sur-marathon" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:180px;border:0;" loading="lazy" title="Big Sur International Marathon course guide by Summit Line"></iframe>This guide is independent and for planning only. The course details, dates, cutoffs, and lottery rules come from public sources and can change year to year, so confirm the current specifics with the official race before you register or run. The pacing advice is general and not medical advice.