The Cologne Marathon (Köln-Marathon) is an annual marathon held in Cologne, Germany. Since October 1997 the marathon has been held annually in early October, except for 2004, 2005 and 2014 when it was held in late September.

History

The inaugural race took place on as the "Ford Cologne Marathon" () with at least 13,000 registered runners, a world record for inaugural marathons at the time.

The 2020 in-person edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all registrants given the option of obtaining a refund (minus an administration fee).

Course

Since 2013 the course starts at Ottoplatz in Deutz and leads the runners through the city of Cologne and finishes at Komödienstraße beneath the Cologne Cathedral.

The marathon time limit is 6 hours.

Events and categories From the beginning there has also been a contest for inline skaters. They start ahead of the runners and try to finish the course in the time limit for skaters, which is 2:30 hours. This competition as well as all others including inline skates were ultimately held in 2013.

Since 1998 there has also been a contest for handcyclists.

In the last years it has been more and more difficult to utilize the starting field because of diverse interests. To countervail, the management of the marathon created new events and contests, which all take place at the same course on the same day.

Here is a list of all competitions: Marathon – Half marathon – Inline marathon – for skaters Handcyclist marathon Run – a full marathon plus a half marathon Run&Skate – first run a half marathon and afterwards skate a complete marathon Run&Skate – first skate, and then run with the peloton of Cologne – run (half marathon), skate , run School Relay – schools may set up their own relay teams, the handover is at fixed points Cultural Relay – any group of people that is committed to any kind of cultural activity (e.g. carnival groups), may set up relay teams (again with fixed handovers). These teams are often dressed up specially.

Winners

Key: Course record (in bold)

Marathon

Ed. Year Men's winner Time Women's winner Time Rf. 1 1997 2:12:00 2:27:27 2 1998 2:10:57 2:29:39 3 1999 2:11:51 2:34:23 4 2000 2:15:51 2:28:42 5 2001 2:11:57 2:31:08 6 2002 2:10:52 2:31:29 7 2003 2:12:05 2:33:48 8 2004 2:10:22 2:32:06 9 2005 2:11:55 2:31:42 10 2006 2:11:24 2:28:30 11 2007 2:11:05 2:29:33 12 2008 2:10:03 2:29:39 13 2009 2:08:36 2:30:12 14 2010 2:14:15 2:46:05 15 2011 2:08:56 2:32:24 16 2012 2:07:37 2:25:34 17 2013 2:09:45 2:28:36 18 2014 2:10:26 2:35:36 19 2015 2:16:03 2:37:33 20 2016 2:08:39 2:32:16 21 2017 2:13:42 2:43:02 22 2018 2:16:57 2:46:03 23 2019 2:15:19 2:31:18 2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic 2021 24 2022 2:16:25 2:40:40 25 2023 2:14:43 2:37:00 26 2024 2:12:37 2:29:41

Half marathon

Year Men's winner Time Women's winner Time Rf. 2006 1:11:43 1:10:09 2007 1:07:33 1:11:54 2008 1:08:08 1:08:51 2009 1:07:11 1:14:34 2010 1:03:00 1:12:56 2011 1:05:26 1:10:31 2012 1:07:20 1:16:43 2013 1:05:11 1:10:54 2014 1:03:26 1:17:42 2015 1:03:42 1:12:28 2016 1:04:49 1:15:11 2017 1:05:42 1:12:05 2018 1:05:20 1:09:31 2019 1:05:43 1:15:18 2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic 2021 2022 1:04:50 1:15:53 2023 1:04:11 1:12:46 2024 1:04:36 1:09:49

Development of starting field

Date finished fraction Total Men Women Men Women 11,221 9,571 1,650 85% 15% 8,572 7,408 1,16486% 14% 10,896 9,217 1,679 85% 15% 12,720 10,799 1,921 85% 15% 13,056 10,974 2,082 84% 16% 14,22411,7752,449 83% 17% 13,867 11,452 2,415 83% 17% 12,960 10,646 2,314 82% 18% 10,856 8,859 2,006 82% 18% 10,469 8,412 2,057 80%20% 9,680 7,824 1,866 81% 19% 7,553 6,131 1,422 81% 19% 7,847 6,370 1,477 81% 19% 5,468 4,414 1,054 81% 19% 5,469 4,382 1,087 80%20% 4,807 3,953 855 82% 18% 5,132 4,116 1,016 80%20%

Notes

References

External links

Cologne Marathon Marathon Info Course maps from 1997 to 2016