Frankfurt Marathon

Course & Elevation

The Mainova Frankfurt Marathon is Germany's oldest city marathon, held in late October and starting at 10:00 on the Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage by the Messeturm. The 2027 edition on 31 October will be the 44th. The course runs into the city centre, turning into Mainzer Landstraße at Platz der Republik, and passes the Bockenheimer Warte, the Alte Oper, Taunusstraße and Kaiserstraße and the Roßmarkt before returning past the Alte Oper to Platz der Republik. It finishes on a red carpet inside the Festhalle on the Messe grounds, after 60 metres in the hall. About 90 action points with music along the route make it a street festival. The finish line is open until 16:45, so the route can be completed in 6 hours net. The race was first held in 1981, organised by OSC Hoechst, and was taken over by the city in 1987; since 2009 the organiser has been the sports agency motion events. The course records are 2:03:42 for men (Wilson Kipsang, 2011), only four seconds short of the world record then, and 2:17:25 for women (Hawi Feysa, 2024). The 2026 edition drew a record 19,720 registered runners from 128 nations.