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 and 2005 when it was held in late September.

Course

Since 2004 the course starts at Mindener Straße and leads the runners through the city of Cologne. Eventually the course finishes in the same location, as it started. In earlier years the course ended in front of Cologne Cathedral, but because of infrastructural reasons the start and finish have been relocated to the borough Deutz. 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.

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

File:Teferi Wodajo - Cologne Marathon 2006 -1.jpg

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

Half marathon

Sabrina Mockenhaupt is a three-time winner of both the marathon and half marathon events.

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

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 at Wikimedia Commons

• Cologne Marathon
• Marathon Info