Your dream run during the day's first light | Albatros Adventure Marathons

Immerse yourself in the beauty of spectacular beaches, immaculate coastal views and challenging grassy hills, where you can combine a majestic marathon with a true cultural experience in Tairāwhiti Gisborne, New Zealand – the First Light Marathon.

Both marathon and half marathon runners face a series of short, steep hills on a combination of charming single-track trails, roads and off-road surfaces with stunning views. Half marathoners will loop through the hills back toward the city, while marathoners head out to the spectacular Wainui Beach for roughly 2km, running along its sparkling waves, before racing to the finish line.

Sure, the hills can be slightly unforgiving with an elevation of up to 1300m, but with views of the Pacific Ocean in all their splendour once you get to the top, you kind of forget the hard slog you’ve just made your body go through. 

And what the First Light Marathon is named after, is what you’ll want to be a special part of – Tairāwhiti Gisborne is widely known by people all over the globe for being the first city in the world to see the sun rise each day.

Water stations are located every 4km with refreshing drinks, energy gels and snacks. In 2024, a disco ball even welcomed tired runners at the top!

With a wide variety of track types including boardwalks, rail tracks, roads and bush trails with cattle infested paddocks, anyone signed up for the event will find themselves falling head over heels for the landscape and the community of runners surrounding them. 

How can you not add First Light Marathon on your bucket list?