REVEL Big Bear Marathon

Buses leave a San Bernardino parking lot before 4 a.m. and climb to a 6,629-foot start below Sugarloaf Mountain, and from there the course gives back just over 5,000 feet on its way down to the valley floor. That is the whole pitch, and it draws runners from well outside California. The record is not clean, though. The full marathon was called off in 2024 and again in 2025 when conditions on the upper canyon made the mountain start unreachable, and on both occasions the half marathon, which begins far lower in Forest Falls, went ahead as planned.

Everything is paved and almost everything trends down. The opening four miles roll along CA 38 above Big Bear, and the real descent starts once the course reaches Angelus Oaks around mile nine: 4,223 feet over the final 17 miles, averaging close to a 4.7 percent grade. The second half gives up more than 3,000 feet against roughly 10 feet of climbing, and the last three miles into Redlands Sports Park drop another 443 on their own. Lungs are not the limiting factor here. Quads are, and the runners who blow up are usually the ones who let the first downhill miles happen to them. Field spacing is generous, with at least one full traffic lane held for runners the whole way.

The start is a mountain start in early November, which means standing around in the dark somewhere near freezing; gloves and a mylar blanket come with the entry for exactly that reason. The finish is a different climate. Redlands sits in the inland valley and can be well into the 70s by late morning, so the temperature swing across 26 miles is often 30 degrees or more. Most runners are stripping layers long before halfway.