Cologne Marathon
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.
Cologne Marathon | |
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![]() Exiting Ottoplatz shortly after the start in 2015 | |
Date | October |
Location | Cologne, Germany |
Event type | Road |
Distance | Marathon |
Primary sponsor | Generali |
Established | 1997 |
Course records | Marathon: Men: 2:07:37 (2012) ![]() Women: 2:25:34 (2012) ![]() Half Marathon: Men: 1:03:00 (2010) ![]() Women: 1:08:51 (2008) ![]() |
Official site | Cologne Marathon |
Participants | 4,379 (2019) |
History
The inaugural race took place on 5 October 1997 as the "Ford Cologne Marathon" (German: Ford Köln-Marathon) with at least 13,000 registered runners, a world record for inaugural marathons at the time.[1][2]
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).[3][4][5]
Course
External images | |
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Since 2013 the course starts at Ottoplatz in Deutz and leads the runners through the city of Cologne and eventually 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 63 km – a full marathon plus a half marathon
- Run&Skate 63 km – first run a half marathon and afterwards skate a complete marathon
- Run&Skate 84 km – first skating, and then running with the peloton
- 105 km of Cologne – run 21 km (half marathon), skating 42 km, running 42 km
- 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[lower-alpha 1] | Women's winner | Time[lower-alpha 1] | 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 | [7] |
23 | 2019 | ![]() |
2:15:19 | ![]() |
2:31:18 | [8] |
2020 | cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic | [3] |
Half marathon


Year | Men's winner | Time[lower-alpha 1] | Women's winner | Time[lower-alpha 1] | 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 | [9] |
2019 | ![]() |
1:05:43 | ![]() |
1:15:18 | [10] |
2020 | cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic | [3] |
Development of starting field
Records
Date | finished | fraction | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Men | Women | Men | Women | |
5 October 1997 | 11,221 | 9,571 | 1,650 | 85% | 15% |
11 October 1998 | 8,572 | 7,408 | 1,164 | 86% | 14% |
3 October 1999 | 10,896 | 9,217 | 1,679 | 85% | 15% |
1 October 2000 | 12,720 | 10,799 | 1,921 | 85% | 15% |
7 October 2001 | 13,056 | 10,974 | 2,082 | 84% | 16% |
6 October 2002 | 14,224 | 11,775 | 2,449 | 83% | 17% |
5 October 2003 | 13,867 | 11,452 | 2,415 | 83% | 17% |
12 September 2004 | 12,960 | 10,646 | 2,314 | 82% | 18% |
11 September 2005 | 10,856 | 8,859 | 2,006 | 82% | 18% |
8 October 2006 | 10,469 | 8,412 | 2,057 | 80% | 20% |
7 October 2007 | 9,680 | 7,824 | 1,866 | 81% | 19% |
5 October 2008 | 7,553 | 6,131 | 1,422 | 81% | 19% |
4 October 2009 | 7,847 | 6,370 | 1,477 | 81% | 19% |
3 October 2010 | 5,468 | 4,414 | 1,054 | 81% | 19% |
2 October 2011 | 5,469 | 4,382 | 1,087 | 80% | 20% |
14 October 2012 | 4,807 | 3,953 | 855 | 82% | 18% |
13 October 2013 | 5,132 | 4,116 | 1,016 | 80% | 20% |
References
- https://archive.is/20201213061544/https://www.laufen-in-koeln.de/lik4.php?aid=A-3489
- https://archive.is/20201213060642/https://koeln-marathon.de/en/20-years-of-rheinenergiemarathon-cologne-registration-opened/
- https://archive.is/20201213055317/https://koeln-marathon.de/en/generali-cologne-marathon-cancelled/
- https://archive.is/20201213055517/https://koeln-marathon.de/en/reimbursement-of-the-entry-fee/
- https://archive.is/20201213055141/https://www.runnersworld.de/news-fotos/koeln-marathon-2020-abgesagt/
- https://www.ksta.de/koeln/kvb--strecken--zahlen-was-sie-zum-23--koeln-marathon-jetzt-wissen-muessen-33296464
- https://web.archive.org/web/20201213134150if_/https://my1.raceresult.com/73298/RRPublish/pdf.php?name=01_Ergebnisse%7CEinzel_Ergebnisliste+MW&contest=1&lang=en
- https://archive.is/20201213115515/https://koeln-marathon.de/en/results/2019-results/%231_6C2959
- https://archive.is/20201213142054/https://koeln-marathon.de/en/results/2018-results/%232_D2644B
- https://archive.is/20201213130231/https://koeln-marathon.de/en/results/2019-results/%232_D2644B
External links
Media related to Köln Marathon at Wikimedia Commons