Marathon International de Marrakech

Marathon, Half marathon in Marrakech, normally held in January. A flat marathon course — Flat course through the palm groves and around the medina walls.

نظرة سريعة على Marathon International de Marrakech

المسافات	Marathon, Half marathon
المسافة الرئيسية	42.2 km (marathon)
يُقام في	January
المسار	مسطح
المدينة	Marrakech, Morocco
الأحوال المعتادة	19.9°C high / 5.5°C low, rain on ~12% of days

Flat course through the palm groves and around the medina walls.

التسجيل في Marathon International de Marrakech

Entry fees, closing dates and start times are set by the organiser and change every year, so they are not reproduced here — a stale deadline is worse than none. The organiser’s own site and its social channels are the authoritative source for the current year, and are where entry opens.

What is stable, and what this page covers: the month the race is held, what the course is like, the conditions you should expect, and how long a build-up the distance needs.

الطقس في نسخ Marathon International de Marrakech السابقة

Across the last ten years, Marrakech in January has averaged a daily high of 19.9°C and a low of 5.5°C, with at least a millimetre of rain on about 12% of days.

These are recorded observations for the race month averaged over ten years, not a forecast and not a single past race day — race dates move, so one day’s figures would mislead. Source: Open-Meteo historical archive.

كيف تستعد لسباق Marathon International de Marrakech

How long to train

Build for 16 to 20 weeks from a base you already hold rather than from nothing. For marathon the block should peak at a longest run of 30–32 km, reached at least two weeks before race day so there is time to taper. Three weeks of taper is standard: cut volume by roughly a third each week while keeping some race-pace work so the legs stay sharp.

Training for this course

The course is flat, which means no downhill sections to give your legs a break — you hold one rhythm the whole way. Train on similarly flat ground so the repetitive loading is not a surprise, and practise holding goal pace for long stretches rather than surging.

Conditions in January

Conditions are usually good for racing: highs average 19.9°C and lows 5.5°C in January, which is close to ideal for marathon running. Dress for the temperature about ten degrees warmer than it actually is, since you will warm up within two kilometres.

Fuelling

Over 42 km you will need 30–60 g of carbohydrate an hour from early on, not once you feel empty. Rehearse the exact products in training — the gut trains like anything else — and check in advance which brand is handed out on course, because switching to an unfamiliar one mid-race is a common and avoidable mistake.

Race week

Sleep matters most two nights before, not the night before, so protect that one. Keep eating normally with a modest tilt toward carbohydrate, lay out kit the night before, and do nothing new: no new shoes, no new breakfast, no new socks. Plan to arrive at the start with time to spare — marathon fields move slowly through bag drop and security.

المسافات وموقع السباق

Marathon — 42.2 km
Half marathon — 21.1 km

The pin marks Marrakech city centre, the area the Marathon International de Marrakech starts and finishes in. This is not the course line: the route is set by the organiser and changes between editions, so the official course map for the current year is theirs to publish. The routes below are for training on the same roads.

Train on these roads: 10K routes in Marrakech · long runs in Marrakech · GPS art routes