Drop in a race GPX file and see how much it actually climbs, how hard that makes it, and what it is likely to cost you in time.
Drop a .gpx file here
or choose one below. The file is read in your browser and never uploaded.
Two half marathons on the same day can be twenty minutes apart for the same runner. One is a flat loop around a lake, the other has four hundred metres of climbing spread over rolling terrain. Registering for the second one with a personal best plan built for the first is the most common way a well trained runner ends up disappointed.
The tool reads every track point in your GPX, measures the real distance between them, and calculates total ascent after smoothing out GPS noise. The headline number is metres of climb per kilometre, because that scales across distances: 300 metres of climbing is trivial across a marathon and brutal across a 5K. The band that number falls into is what turns it into a difficulty rating.
The chart shows the shape of the course from start to finish. What you are looking for is not the total, it is where the climbing sits. A course that climbs steadily for the first half and gives it all back is very different from one that saves a hill for kilometre 38, even though both would show the same total ascent. Plan your effort around the shape, not the number.
Organisers usually publish one on the race page or in the race information pack. Failing that, search the course on Strava, where someone who ran last year has almost certainly uploaded it, and export the GPX from that activity. Garmin Connect and Komoot also export GPX.
No. The file is read in your own browser and never leaves your device. Nothing is sent to our server and nothing is stored, which is also why the tool works instantly.
GPS and barometric elevation are noisy, and most devices count every tiny fluctuation as climbing. This tool smooths the elevation and only counts a change once it exceeds 3 metres, which strips out the noise. The result is usually lower than a watch total and closer to what the course actually climbs.
Roughly 0.3 to 0.6 seconds per metre of climb for most runners, net of what you get back on the descents. The range is wide because it depends on how steep the climbs are, how strong you are on hills, and whether the descents are runnable or technical. Treat it as a bracket rather than a prediction.
Most road races here are flat by international standards, often under 10 metres of climb per kilometre. Anything above 25 metres per kilometre is a genuinely hilly road race, and trail events in places like Bukit Kiara, Broga or the Titiwangsa range routinely exceed 45.
Yes. Export the GPX of a route you run regularly and you will see exactly how much climbing you are doing per week, which is useful when a plan asks for hill work or for flat quality sessions.
Turn any distance and finish time into pace per km, pace per mile and speed.
Open tool →Break a goal finish time into every kilometre split, ready to print.
Open tool →Predict your finish time at another distance from one recent race result.
Open tool →