2027 Ehime Marathon - Feb 7

2027 Ehime Marathon - Feb 7 Countdown

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Race Information

Race2027 Ehime Marathon - Feb 7
CityMatsuyama
Date2027-02-07 at 10:00
Field Size~10,300 runners
Time Limit6 hours
Cutoff pace8:32/km
TimezoneAsia/Tokyo
Official SiteEhime Marathon Organizing Committee (愛媛マラソン実行委員会)

Race Day Weather

Average Temperature6.5°C / 44°F
Humidity73%
Wind19.1 km/h
Rain Chance30%
Typical ConditionsThe organiser publishes on-site start and finish observations for 15 editions: the start-line temperature averages 6.3C across a 1.5-13.0C range, wind averages 3.6 km/h, and not one of those 15 races recorded snow. (The wind and humidity figures in this panel are regional reanalysis medians, which run higher than on-course anemometer readings.)

What to Prepare: Dress for cold, not for weather drama: 78% of in-race observations sit below 10C. A long-sleeve base layer, thin gloves and a throwaway top for the corral cover it. With past starts ranging from 1.5C to 13.0C, make the final call on the race-week forecast rather than on last year's photos.

Based on historical averages for race week. Use our Weather Score Calculator and What to Wear Guide for personalized advice.

Wind Impact on Race Day

Wind at 19.1 km/h can affect your marathon pace by 5-15 seconds per kilometer. Headwinds slow you down exponentially — a 20 km/h wind costs more than twice a 10 km/h wind.

Calculate your wind-adjusted pace →

Race-Week Climate

Based on 20 years of race-week weather (2005-2024), MERRA-2 reanalysis

Cooler Typical Warmer
Temperature 3.4°C 6.3°C 10.4°C
Dew point -2°C 1.5°C 7.9°C
Wet-day chance: 30% Runnability: 72/100

Data: NASA POWER (MERRA-2 reanalysis), NASA Langley Research Center

Course Profile

Course TypeOut-and-back road marathon
TerrainRoad
ProfileNorth along the Seto Inland Sea from the Ehime Prefectural Government Office to a turnaround at Hojo Bunka-no-Mori Park, finishing at Shiroyama Park below Matsuyama Castle. Reading the official elevation chart, the high point of roughly 46 m appears twice - just past 8 km outbound and again just past 35 km - because it is the same hill taken in both directions. The middle 11-31 km runs flat along the coast.
Boston QualifierYes — Check your BQ time

Course Analysis

The 64th edition: 10,300 places and how they are split

The 64th Ehime Marathon runs on Sunday, February 7, 2027, starting at 10:00, with the full marathon as the only distance. The limit is 6 hours measured on gun time, not chip time - a distinction that matters if you start from a back block.

The field is capped at 10,300, and four routes fill it exactly: 3,000 first-come athlete places (sub-3:30 men, sub-4:00 women), 200 net-time athlete places, 6,800 general-lottery places and a 300-place hometown-tax route introduced for this edition. Separately, anyone who volunteered at the previous edition holds a priority entry that skips the draw. The cap grew from 10,000 last year purely because of the hometown-tax route - the general lottery pool did not get bigger.

Entry also requires a self-declaration that you can finish within 5 hours 45 minutes, 15 minutes tighter than the cutoff itself. Recent finish rates were 89.8% (63rd edition, 11,131 starters) and 88.87% (62nd edition, 10,656 starters), so roughly one runner in ten does not beat the clock here.

First half: only the 5.9 km gate is generous

The first place you can be stopped is not a checkpoint at all. Honmachi 3-chome intersection at 2.5 km (about 10:40) is one of three mandatory stop points the organiser sets separately from the timing gates, purely so road closures can be lifted on schedule. Very few races publish this class of information; Ehime lists all three.

Gate 1, Kitakanjo Iriguchi Intersection (5.9 km / 11:05), allows 11:01 per km cumulatively - the only genuinely loose gate on the course. By Gate 2, Taiyo Oil SOLATO Intersection (12.2 km / 11:56), the cumulative requirement has tightened to 9:30 per km.

The high point of the course comes just past 8 km. The official course map marks Hirata Intersection at 7.2 km, and the crest sits a little beyond it. You will climb this same hill again on the way back.

Between Gate 3 (17.8 km / 12:42) and Gate 4 at the JA Namba Cargo Center (19.5 km / 12:55) there are only 1.7 km, but they demand 7:39 per km - the fastest segment requirement of all ten gates. The turnaround is at Hojo Bunka-no-Mori Park, and Gate 5, Shinmiyanoshita Bridge (21.5 km / 13:11), closes out the first half.

Second half: a relay of local confectioners, then the same hill again

Aid on this half (63rd-edition record, subject to change) reads like a tour of Ehime's confectioners: Yamadaya at 21.9 km, Hatada at 28.6 km and Utsuboya at 37.2 km, joining Ichiroku back at 17.5 km, with Pom Juice, the prefecture's citrus drink, poured at both 25.5 km and 37.2 km and Nanaore plum at 32.0 km for salt. Eight first-aid posts line the route.

Gates cluster through here: Gate 6 at 26.6 km (13:53), Gate 7 at 30.2 km (14:22) and Gate 8 at Horieshomae Intersection (34.8 km / 15:00), with the mandatory stop points at Fuchu Intersection (28.6 km, about 14:12) and Ogawa Intersection (32.1 km, about 14:41) in between.

Gate 8 deserves attention, though not because it is the strictest - its cumulative requirement of 8:37 per km is softer than the gates that follow. It matters because of where it sits: the high point just past 35 km, the return side of the climb you took past 8 km, comes immediately afterwards. Whatever margin you carry through 34.8 km is the margin you get to spend on that hill.

Gate 9 at Okawabashi Intersection (38.3 km / 15:29) and Gate 10 at Honmachi 7-chome (40.5 km / 15:47) close the race out. From that last gate to the 16:00 course closure you have 13 minutes for the remaining 1.695 km, or 7:40 per km - and a gentle 15 m rise runs from about 37.2 km to 40.9 km, so the finish is not a downhill coast. The line is at Shiroyama Park, beneath Matsuyama Castle.

What waits there is the reason a lot of runners pick this race. The participation gift is the race shirt plus a bathing pass for Dogo Onsen, one of Japan's oldest hot springs and in the same city; the finisher's award is a commemorative Imabari towel, the textile Ehime is known for. In the 63rd edition the finish area also ran a foot bath alongside imotaki stew, rice balls, ginger broth and pork bowls from local sponsors, served until they ran out.

Entering from abroad, and planning to the gates

Entry route. The general lottery is open August 3 to August 20, 2026 - a 17-day window, not first-come, so applying on day one buys nothing. Results go out by email on September 4 to winners and non-winners alike, and successful applicants must pay by September 18 or lose the place; the organiser states plainly in the race outline that every year some entries end unpaid. If paid entries fall short of the cap, a second draw runs from the non-winning pool with results in early October and no re-application needed. Overseas entries are handled by RUN JAPAN on the organiser's behalf, and the official English page lists the contact window for them.

Nothing is mailed to you. There is no posted bib voucher for this edition: your entry lives as a QR code on a web participant pass, and per the 62nd-edition overseas procedure you are handed a wristband at the desk to keep on until you finish — confirm the current process with RUN JAPAN.

One fee caveat worth knowing. The Japanese pages list 12,900 JPY plus a separate 774 JPY handling fee, while the official English page shows a different figure. No official document explains the gap, so treat the amount confirmed through the RUN JAPAN channel as authoritative rather than either page in isolation.

Planning. Cumulative gate pace tightens from 11:01 per km to 8:32 per km at the line and never eases, so banking time early is not a strategy the course supports - build a gate-by-gate table with the pace calculator before you travel. Dress for cold: 78% of in-race observations across 15 editions fall below 10C and none of them recorded snow. Note too that participant parking has been withdrawn from this edition while the old lot undergoes inspection work, so plan on public transport. To see how this window sits against other Japanese races, check the Japan marathon entry calendar.

Prepare for 2027 Ehime Marathon - Feb 7

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Frequently Asked Questions

When and where is the Ehime Marathon 2027?

The 64th Ehime Marathon is run on Sunday, February 7, 2027, with a 10:00 start. The full marathon is the only distance. It is an out-and-back course in Matsuyama, the largest city on Shikoku: the start is in front of the Ehime Prefectural Government Office, the route heads north along the Seto Inland Sea to a turnaround at Hojo Bunka-no-Mori Park, and the finish is at Shiroyama Park in the Horinouchi district, below Matsuyama Castle.

How do overseas runners enter, and what is the timeline?

There is no separate foreign-entrant quota - overseas runners use the same lottery. Applications open August 3, 2026 at 10:00 JST and close August 20 at 23:59, a 17-day window for 6,800 general places. Because it is a draw rather than first-come, any application inside the window counts equally.

Results are emailed on September 4. Winners then have to complete payment by September 18, and the organiser warns in its own race outline that some entries lapse unpaid every year. If paid entries fall short of the cap, a second draw is made from the non-winning pool and those winners are contacted in early October - no re-application is required. Overseas entries are administered by RUN JAPAN on the organiser's behalf, with an English contact window listed on the official English site.

How much does it cost to enter?

The Japanese-language pages state a participation fee of 12,900 JPY with a separate 774 JPY entry handling fee, the same across the athlete, general and hometown-tax routes. The official English page shows a different entry-fee figure, and no official document explains the difference, so we will not assert which applies to an overseas application - confirm the amount through the RUN JAPAN channel before you budget.

There is also a hometown-tax route for people living outside Matsuyama: a 50,000 JPY donation to the city, which bundles the entry and handling fees, returns a start place. It is capped at 300, first-come, non-refundable and non-transferable.

Can a friend collect my bib for me?

No. Collection is in person only, at Shiroyama Park on Saturday February 6 (13:00-18:00) or Sunday morning (07:30-09:00) - both listed as provisional - and proxy pickup is explicitly not accepted. Bring photo identification such as your passport - identity is verified at the desk. Nothing is mailed out in advance: your entry lives as a QR code on a web participant pass, and the organiser sends the notification emails in mid-January, late January and early February. Domain filters on your mail account should be set to accept messages from the entry-system domain, or those notifications will never arrive.

How strict are the cutoffs?

Six hours sounds relaxed, but three details tighten it. First, the cumulative pace the ten gates demand never eases: 11:01 per km at 5.9 km, 9:30 by 12.2 km, 8:37 by 34.8 km and 8:32 to the line. There is no stretch where the standard gives time back, so banking early does not work the way it does on a flat six-hour race. Second, the limit is on gun time, so any delay crossing the start line comes out of your own margin. Third, three mandatory stop points at 2.5 km, 28.6 km and 32.1 km exist outside the gate system, set by road-reopening schedules.

The tightest single stretches are 17.8-19.5 km at 7:39 per km and the run-in from the last gate at 40.5 km, which leaves 13 minutes for 1.695 km. The official English page publishes the full gate table in English, so you can build your splits from the source.

What is the weather like in early February?

Unusually for a regional race, the organiser publishes its own timed observations taken at the start and finish for 15 editions. The start-line temperature averages 6.3C (median 6.0C, range 1.5-13.0C), 78% of in-race observations fall below 10C, and wind averages just 3.6 km/h, with the strongest reading across 115 observations at 18.4 km/h. The coastal setting does not translate into wind in the data.

None of those 15 editions recorded snow, which is worth knowing if you are picturing a February race in Japan as a winter-weather gamble. The variable to plan for is cold, not snow: recent starts were 5.0C and clear, 3.0C and cloudy, and 6.8C in rain. With an 11.5C spread between the coldest and warmest starts on record, decide kit on the forecast, not on averages.

Does an Ehime time count for Boston or age-group rankings?

The course is certified by the JAAF, World Athletics and AIMS, which is the course certification Boston's qualifying rules ask for, so an official time can be submitted against your age-group standard. Bear in mind the two crossings of the same hill and the mild rise in the closing 5 km when judging it as a qualifying attempt.

Ehime also joined the Abbott WMM Age Group World Rankings from the 63rd edition, one of 18 Japanese races in the programme as of May 2026 and more than 350 worldwide. Rankings for 40-plus runners in five-year bands appear about three weeks after the race. The championship qualifying times published by the organiser include 2:42 for men and 3:12 for women at 45-49, and 3:10 and 3:49 at 60-64.

How do I get to the start, and is there parking?

Participant parking has been withdrawn from this edition because the lot previously used has gone into inspection and repair work, so public transport is the assumption. A temporary bicycle park is provided inside Shiroyama Park.

From Matsuyama Airport, the limousine bus reaches Ehime Shimbunsha-mae in about 18 minutes, six minutes' walk from the venue. JR Matsuyama Station is about 15 minutes on foot, and the limousine bus from Matsuyama Kanko Port takes about 22 minutes. Fares and times above follow the official English page as of June 1, 2026.

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