Seattle Marathon 2026

The course starts near Seattle Center on 5th Avenue/Harrison Street and finishes at Memorial Stadium. The current route heads into downtown, then north across the Lake Washington Ship Canal via the Ship Canal Bridge, follows the Burke-Gilman Trail with an out-and-back section, and returns south across Lake Union via the Aurora Bridge to the Seattle Center finish. Terrain is rolling with total elevation gain around 1,200 ft; runners report significant hills on the bridge approaches and through the Fremont/Queen Anne and Gasworks Park areas in the second half. The course was redesigned in 2018 after the I-90 floating-bridge express lanes became unavailable to the race.