The Cologne Marathon (Köln-Marathon) is an annual marathon held in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, 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" (german: Ford Köln-Marathon, links=no) 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 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

, 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. Koeln marathon

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 A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

– * 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

Half marathon

Development of starting field

Notes

References

External links

Cologne Marathon

{{coord missing, North Rhine-Westphalia Recurring sporting events established in 1997 Marathons in Germany Sport in Cologne Tourist attractions in Cologne Autumn events in Germany 1997 establishments in Germany Inline speed skating competitions