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
Exiting Ottoplatz [de] shortly after the start in 2015
Date	October
Location	Cologne, Germany
Event type	Road
Distance	Marathon
Primary sponsor	Generali
Established	1997 (28 years ago) (1997)
Course records	Marathon: Men: 2:07:37 (2012) Alfred Kering Women: 2:25:34 (2012) Helena Kirop Half Marathon: Men: 1:03:00 (2010) Leonard Langat Women: 1:08:51 (2008) Sabrina Mockenhaupt
Official site	Official website
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
Course map of full marathon in 1997[1]
Course map of full marathon in 2019[6]

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.

Running through a crowd in 2004

Passing runners on Salierring, 2008

Running along the Rhine on Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer [de], with Colonia-Haus and the Zoo Bridge [de] visible in the background, 2011

Approaching the finish in 2015

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 – 42.195 kilometres (26 miles 385 yards)
• Half marathon – 21.0975 kilometres (13 miles 192.5 yards)
• Inline marathon – for skaters
• Handcyclist marathon
• Run 63 km (39 mi) – a full marathon plus a half marathon
• Run&Skate 63 km (39 mi) – first run a half marathon and afterwards skate a complete marathon
• Run&Skate 84 km (52 mi) – first skate, and then run with the peloton
• 105 km (65 mi) of Cologne – run 21 km (13 mi) (half marathon), skate 42 km (26 mi), run 42 km (26 mi)
• 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

The 2006 winner Teferi Wodajo at the midpoint of the race

Key:    Course record (in bold)

Marathon

Ed.	Year	Men's winner	Time[a]	Women's winner	Time[a]	Rf.
1	1997	Stephan Freigang (GER)	2:12:00	Angelina Kanana (KEN)	2:27:27
2	1998	Carsten Eich (GER)	2:10:57	Małgorzata Sobańska (POL)	2:29:39
3	1999	Benson Lokorwa (KEN)	2:11:51	Elżbieta Jarosz (POL)	2:34:23
4	2000	Benson Lokorwa (KEN)	2:15:51	Małgorzata Sobańska (POL)	2:28:42
5	2001	Simon Lopuyet (KEN)	2:11:57	Judith Kiplimo (KEN)	2:31:08
6	2002	Ernest Kipyego (KEN)	2:10:52	Claudia Dreher (GER)	2:31:29
7	2003	Benjamin Rotich (KEN)	2:12:05	Tegla Loroupe (KEN)	2:33:48
8	2004	James Rotich (KEN)	2:10:22	Claudia Dreher (GER)	2:32:06
9	2005	Joseph Kadon (KEN)	2:11:55	Claudia Dreher (GER)	2:31:42
10	2006	Tereje Wodajo (ETH)	2:11:24	Luminita Zaituc (GER)	2:28:30
11	2007	Daniel Too (KEN)	2:11:05	Sabrina Mockenhaupt (GER)	2:29:33
12	2008	Sammy Kurgat (KEN)	2:10:03	Robe Tola (ETH)	2:29:39
13	2009	Evans Ruto (KEN)	2:08:36	Sabrina Mockenhaupt (GER)	2:30:12
14	2010	Francis Bowen (KEN)	2:14:15	Katharina Heinig (GER)	2:46:05
15	2011	Samson Barmao (KEN)	2:08:56	Mekuria Aberume (ETH)	2:32:24
16	2012	Alfred Kering (KEN)	2:07:37	Helena Kirop (KEN)	2:25:34
17	2013	Nicholas Chelimo (KEN)	2:09:45	Janet Rono (KEN)	2:28:36
18	2014	Anthony Maritim (KEN)	2:10:26	Shasho Insermu (ETH)	2:35:36
19	2015	Benson Waweru (KEN)	2:16:03	Gelane Senbete (KEN)	2:37:33
20	2016	Raymond Choge (KEN)	2:08:39	Bornes Kitur (KEN)	2:32:16
21	2017	Hendrik Pfeiffer (GER)	2:13:42	Rebecca Robisch (GER)	2:43:02
22	2018	Tobias Blum (GER)	2:16:57	Rebecca Robisch (GER)	2:46:03	[7]
23	2019	Hendrik Pfeiffer (GER)	2:15:19	Debbie Schöneborn (GER)	2:31:18	[8]
	2020	cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic				[3]
	2021
24	2022	Tobias Blum (GER)	2:16:25	Sabine Burgdorf (GER)	2:40:40	[9]
25	2023	Amos Changwony (KEN)	2:14:43	Esther Jacobitz (GER)	2:37:00	[10]
26	2024	Tadesse Mengistie (ETH)	2:12:37	Zinash Mekonnen (ETH)	2:29:41	[11]

Half marathon

Sabrina Mockenhaupt is a two-time winner of the marathon and four-time winner of the half marathon.

Laura Hottenrott after winning the half marathon in 2016

Year	Men's winner	Time[a]	Women's winner	Time[a]	Rf.
2006	Pascal Meissner (GER)	1:11:43	Irina Mikitenko (GER)	1:10:09
2007	Lars Haferkamp (GER)	1:07:33	Luminita Zaituc (GER)	1:11:54
2008	Mehmet Ali Akbas (TUR)	1:08:08	Sabrina Mockenhaupt (GER)	1:08:51
2009	Maciek Miereczko (POL)	1:07:11	Julia Viellehner (GER)	1:14:34
2010	Leonard Langat (KEN)	1:03:00	Simret Restle (GER)	1:12:56
2011	Vitaliy Rybak (UKR)	1:05:26	Sabrina Mockenhaupt (GER)	1:10:31
2012	Wilson Chemweno (KEN)	1:07:20	Sabrina Mockenhaupt (GER)	1:16:43
2013	Hendrik Pfeiffer (GER)	1:05:11	Sabrina Mockenhaupt (GER)	1:10:54
2014	Melaku Belachew (ETH)	1:03:26	Christl Dörschel (GER)	1:17:42
2015	Hendrik Pfeiffer (GER)	1:03:42	Simret Restle (GER)	1:12:28
2016	Tom Gröschel (GER)	1:04:49	Laura Hottenrott (GER)	1:15:11
2017	Tobias Blum (GER)	1:05:42	Sabrina Mockenhaupt (GER)	1:12:05
2018	Karol Grunenberg (GER)	1:05:20	Alina Reh (GER)	1:09:31	[12]
2019	Amanal Petros (GER)	1:05:43	Katja Fischer (GER)	1:15:18	[13]
2020	cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic				[3]
2021
2022	Tom Förster (GER)	1:04:50	Esther Jacobitz (GER)	1:15:53	[14]
2023	Tom Förster (GER)	1:04:11	Mia Jurenka (GER)	1:12:46	[15]
2024	Tom Förster (GER)	1:04:36	Esther Pfeiffer (GER)	1:09:49	[16]

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%

Notes

1. h:m:s