Sacramento, CA · Sun, December 6, 2026 · 07:00
Prime BQ course · forgiving course · some friction
Boston-qualifying course; see the BQ Finder for the effective application effect.
Net downhill (~364 ft drop), cool race morning.
Open registration · ~$1,150 all-in from South Florida.
Date verified at the official source; course and climate data on file.
Legacy Green Score 8.3/10 · method
At the start line and start hour · Open-Meteo historical archive
Projected at race day for M 18-34, from your 4:00:00 marathon + training runway.
#1 US BQ feeder. Net downhill 366ft - under new 1,500ft BAA penalty threshold. Cool December.
The California International Marathon is a marathon held in Sacramento, CA on December 6, 2026. With a Green Score of 8.3/10, it's one of the easier, more beginner-friendly US races. The course is net downhill — ~364 ft of drop from start to finish with very little climbing (~15 ft of gain per mile). Typical race-day weather is a cool 41°F, dew point ~40°F (10-year normal). It is a Boston-qualifying course. Entry is around $230. Marathon Compass rates every race across terrain, climate, logistics, travel, and field size so you can find the one that fits you — and build a training plan tuned to your fitness.
Typical start-line conditions (10-year history (Open-Meteo)): 41°F with a dew point of 40°F. On the temperature-plus-dew-point scale used by our pace engine, that's 81 — a 0% pace penalty. Heat should not be a factor at the California International Marathon in a typical year — race your fitness.
Method: temp°F + dew°F lookup from the heat-adjustment chart our training plans use daily. Sign in to see this adjustment applied to your own projected finish.
First marathons cost more than the entry fee — budget the whole weekend before you commit.
~364 ft of net descent — meaningful downhill assistance, yet under the BAA's 1,500 ft adjustment threshold. Your clock time is your application time.
Computed under the BAA's downhill rules for the 2027 qualifying window (announced Sept 2025; verified July 2026): net start-to-finish descent of 1,500–2,999 ft adds 5:00, 3,000–5,999 ft adds 10:00, and 6,000 ft or more is not accepted. Net descent here is derived from our course elevation data — the BAA's official course designation controls. Sign in to see your projected finish graded against your age-group standard and the realistic acceptance cutoff.
Entry is open — register before it sells out and the decision is made.
Point-to-point course: stay near the finish, not the start — you'll be glad at mile 26, and shuttles run to the start. Book a refundable rate now and forget about it; inventory tightens in the final month. The links below are pre-filled for race weekend (December 4, 2026 → December 7, 2026).
When to wake up, when the corral closes, and the exact clock time California International Marathon spectators should be at each split for your goal pace — plus a link you can send to whoever's coming to watch.
Build your race-day timeline →Race and date verified against the official race source on 2026-07-17. Race-morning climate from Open-Meteo — 10-year history at the start line and start hour. Race fees, dates, and rules change often — report incorrect information.