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
Date	October
Location	Cologne, Germany
Event type	Road
Distance	Marathon
Primary sponsor	RheinEnergie
Established	1997
Course records	Marathon: Men: Alfred Kering 2:07:37 Women: Helena Kirop 2:25:34 Half Marathon: Men: Leonard Langat 1:03:00 Women: Sabrina Mockenhaupt 1:08:51
Official site	Cologne Marathon
Participants	4,379 (2019)

Course

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 is limited to 17,500 participants and the 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.

Past winners

The 2006 winner Teferi Wodajo at the midpoint of the race

Key:   Course record

Marathon

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

Half marathon

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

Year	Men's winner	Time (h:m:s)	Women's winner	Time (h:m:s)
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
2019	Amanal Petros (GER)	1:05:43	Katja Fischer (GER)	1:15:18

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%

External links

Media related to Köln Marathon at Wikimedia Commons

• Cologne Marathon
• Marathon Info