Men’s course record
2:03:42
Wilson Kipsang · 2011
- Average pace
- 2:56 / km
- Terrain-adjusted
- +0.08 %
Frankfurt Marathon
Frankfurt, Germany The last Sunday in October Founded 1981
Twice across the Main and out to Höchst, then home to a red carpet inside the Festhalle.
Overview
Frankfurt is the marathon with the indoor finish. Runners come off Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage, through a gate into the Festhalle, and down a red carpet to a line sixty metres inside the hall, in front of about 7,000 spectators. The start is 133 m away, at the foot of the Messeturm.
In between, it tours the city on both sides of the river. The first 13.0 km loop through the banking district and the old centre, past the Alte Oper. Then the course crosses the Main on the Alte Brücke, runs west along the south bank through Sachsenhausen, Niederrad and Schwanheim, crosses back, and turns at Höchst, where the race was born in 1981. The last third comes home down Mainzer Landstraße, the long straight into the towers.
It's been fast for years, and Wilson Kipsang's 2:03:42 from 2011 is still the men's course record. The 2026 race sold out two months early, with more than 18,500 registered.
In between, it tours the city on both sides of the river. The first 13.0 km loop through the banking district and the old centre, past the Alte Oper. Then the course crosses the Main on the Alte Brücke, runs west along the south bank through Sachsenhausen, Niederrad and Schwanheim, crosses back, and turns at Höchst, where the race was born in 1981. The last third comes home down Mainzer Landstraße, the long straight into the towers.
It's been fast for years, and Wilson Kipsang's 2:03:42 from 2011 is still the men's course record. The 2026 race sold out two months early, with more than 18,500 registered.
- When
- The 2026 Frankfurt Marathon is on Sunday, 25 October 2026, starting at 10:00am local time on Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage, at the Messeturm.
- Course
- Frankfurt's course climbs 96 m in all, with its lowest point at 93 m and its highest at 118 m.
- Entry
- Entry to Frankfurt is first come, first served (sold out for 2026), and costs €111–156 for 2026.
- Field
- The 2026 Frankfurt Marathon has a marathon field of 18,500+.
- Weather
- Across 29 years, Frankfurt's race-day temperature has a median of 12.3 °C.
- Records
- The Frankfurt Marathon course records are 2:03:42 (Wilson Kipsang, 2011) and 2:17:25 (Hawi Feysa, 2024).
- Time limit
- Frankfurt's time limit is 6 hours.
Marathon Course · every marathon course, measured the same way
Frankfurt Marathon
Twice across the Main and out to Höchst, then home to a red carpet inside the Festhalle. Messeturm → Festhalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
- Distance
- 42.2 km
- Ascent
- 96 m
- Descent
- 95 m
- Net
- +1 m
Course map and elevation
5 km splits marked · hover or drag the profile below to move along the courseElevation · measured on the course line published for the 2024 edition · Sonny 1" .hgt tiles — CC BY 4.0 · smoothed 100 m 93–118 m
—
0.08.416.825.233.642.1
kmmi — elev — grade — hover or drag the profile
The profile has one hill, and it comes early. The first 13.0 km loop through the city centre, and the ground rises to the north of it. At 9.2 km the course climbs 16 m in a kilometre, the steepest of the race, to its high point: 118 m at 10.2 km. Then it gives almost all of it straight back, 15 m lost in the next kilometre.
After the Alte Brücke at 13.2 km the course is flat. For 24.0 km, out along the Main to Höchst and back along Mainzer Landstraße, it stays between 93 m and 100 m. The low point, 93 m at 28.2 km, is the Nidda valley at Nied.
The chart draws the crossings of the Main at 13.2 km and 24.0 km as straight lines between the banks, because the elevation model reads the river under a bridge instead of the deck. The organiser calls the Schwanheimer Brücke the one notable climb on the course, and it's steeper than it looks here. The finish is back where it started: 98 m, less than a metre above the start line. Add up the energy cost of every gradient and the course comes out about level with a flat 42.195 km.
Take it with you
Course GPX Organiser's course map
The GPX is ours: our resampled line, a point every 25 m, carrying Sonny 1" .hgt tiles — CC BY 4.0 elevation rather than the GPS noise a watch file usually holds.
Sonny 1" .hgt tiles — CC BY 4.0, measured on the course line published for the 2024 edition, smoothed 100 m · marathoncourse.com/marathons/frankfurt/ · checked 2026-09-24
How to enter: dates and fees
Places go first come, first served, and the earlier you enter, the less you pay. The first thousand numbers cost €111, and the price climbs through three more tiers to €156 after bib 9,500. Registration for 2026 opened at noon on 26 October 2025, the day of the last race. The marathon sold out on 30 August 2026 with more than 18,500 registered, and the organiser runs a waitlist.
Places can be transferred to another runner until 4 October, for €20. A runner who withdraws with a medical certificate by 30 October gets an entry code for 2027, also for €20. There are no refunds.
There's also a relay for teams of four, over legs of 12.9, 6.1, 9.5 and 13.5 km, on the same course and to the same finish. Runners who finish ten times join the Frankfurt Marathon Club and keep a permanent race number.
Places can be transferred to another runner until 4 October, for €20. A runner who withdraws with a medical certificate by 30 October gets an entry code for 2027, also for €20. There are no refunds.
There's also a relay for teams of four, over legs of 12.9, 6.1, 9.5 and 13.5 km, on the same course and to the same finish. Runners who finish ten times join the Frankfurt Marathon Club and keep a permanent race number.
History
Frankfurt's marathon began on 17 May 1981 at the gates of the Hoechst chemical works in the west of the city, organised by the company's athletics club and started by Emil Zátopek. There were 3,169 entries. The course already crossed the Main twice, on the Alte Brücke and at Schwanheim, as it still does. In its second year it was the biggest road race in Germany.
Hoechst withdrew after 1985 and there was no race in 1986. The city and Eintracht Frankfurt revived it in 1987, moved it to October and to the Messe, and it has been based at the Messe ever since. In 1990, weeks after reunification, about 1,300 runners from the former East Germany travelled to it free by train. In 2003 the finish moved indoors, into the Festhalle, where runners now come down a red carpet in front of about 7,000 spectators.
It became an elite race in the same years. Wilson Kipsang's 2:03:42 in 2011 missed the world record by four seconds, and Arne Gabius ran a German record here in 2015. In 2024 Hawi Feysa took the women's record to 2:17:25. The race sold out for 2026 two months early, and from this year every runner gets a split at every kilometre.
Hoechst withdrew after 1985 and there was no race in 1986. The city and Eintracht Frankfurt revived it in 1987, moved it to October and to the Messe, and it has been based at the Messe ever since. In 1990, weeks after reunification, about 1,300 runners from the former East Germany travelled to it free by train. In 2003 the finish moved indoors, into the Festhalle, where runners now come down a red carpet in front of about 7,000 spectators.
It became an elite race in the same years. Wilson Kipsang's 2:03:42 in 2011 missed the world record by four seconds, and Arne Gabius ran a German record here in 2015. In 2024 Hawi Feysa took the women's record to 2:17:25. The race sold out for 2026 two months early, and from this year every runner gets a split at every kilometre.
- 198117 May: Emil Zátopek starts the first race outside the gates of the Hoechst works — 3,169 entered
- 19825,529 enter, and Frankfurt is the biggest road race in Germany in only its second year
- 1983Charlotte Teske sets a West German record of 2:28:32, despite stopping to walk with stomach cramps
- 1986Hoechst withdraws its sponsorship, and there's no race
- 1987The city and Eintracht Frankfurt revive it, move it to October and base it at the Messe
- 1990Weeks after reunification, about 1,300 runners from the former East Germany travel free by train to run
- 1996Martin Bremer collapses just short of the line, gets up, and wins by four seconds
- 1998Abel Gisemba wins through gusts of up to 90 km/h
- 2003The finish moves indoors to the Festhalle, and a relay joins the programme
- 2011Wilson Kipsang runs 2:03:42, four seconds outside the world record — still the course record
- 2013Vincent Kipruto wins by one second, in wind and heavy rain
- 2015Arne Gabius runs 2:08:33 for a German record, breaking a mark that had stood since 1988
- 2018Mark Kiptoo, sixth in 2:07:50, sets a world best for a man over forty
- 2020Cancelled for the pandemic, and again in 2021
- 2024Hawi Feysa takes 1:45 off the women's record with 2:17:25; for the first time two women run under 2:20
- 2025A record 17,058 enter, and a strong wind ends any hope of records
- 202625 October, sold out two months early — and a split at every kilometre for every runner
1990200020102020
Course records
Pace is derived from the certified distance. Terrain-adjusted figures come from the same model that ranks every course on this site.
Women’s course record
2:17:25
Hawi Feysa · 2024
- Average pace
- 3:15 / km
- Terrain-adjusted
- +0.08 %
Race day: start times and cut-offs
- 10:00am
- 4:45pm
- Time limit
- 6h
- Fourteen
The clocks go back at 3:00am on race morning. European summer time always ends on the last Sunday in October, and the race falls on it every year. You gain an hour of sleep, and the 10:00am start is an hour later by your body clock than it was the day before.
Your race number is a ticket for every bus and train in the RMV network all day. The start is on Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage at the foot of the Messeturm, facing the city, with S-Bahn Messe and U-Bahn Festhalle/Messe beside it. Bags go in the official starter bag to Hall 1 from 8:00am and must be collected by 5:00pm. Runners go off in waves from 10:00, and everyone must be across the line by 10:35.
There are full refreshment points every five kilometres and water-only points between them, fourteen in all. Pacers carry flags from 2:59 to 5:29. The finish is sixty metres inside the Festhalle, and from 2026 every runner gets a split time at every kilometre.
Your race number is a ticket for every bus and train in the RMV network all day. The start is on Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage at the foot of the Messeturm, facing the city, with S-Bahn Messe and U-Bahn Festhalle/Messe beside it. Bags go in the official starter bag to Hall 1 from 8:00am and must be collected by 5:00pm. Runners go off in waves from 10:00, and everyone must be across the line by 10:35.
There are full refreshment points every five kilometres and water-only points between them, fourteen in all. Pacers carry flags from 2:59 to 5:29. The finish is sixty metres inside the Festhalle, and from 2026 every runner gets a split time at every kilometre.
The morning, hour by hour
- 3:00am
- Clocks go back an hour
- 8:00am
- Bag drop opens, Hall 1
- 10:00am
- First wave
- 10:35am
- Last runners across the start
- 4:45pm
- Finish closes, Festhalle
The organiser's 2026 race conditions. Times are CET: the clocks go back that morning. No intermediate cut-offs are published. The time limit is six hours net and the finish closes at 4:45pm. The organiser's 2024 split sheet put the last runner at km 21 around 1:40pm and at km 40 around 4:25pm; return buses and a sweeper vehicle follow the field.
Race-day weather, 1995–2025
- Median
- 12.3 °C
- Warm years
- 1 of 29
- Wet years
- 5 of 29
Race-day mean temperature, 1995-2025. Lime marks the hottest edition; the coldest and wettest carry a label only, so the colour still means one thing.
Frequently asked questions
Is Frankfurt a flat course?
Very nearly. It climbs 96 m in all, and most of the shape is one hill in the first 13.0 km, where the course rises 16 m in a kilometre to its high point, 118 m, and drops straight back. After the Alte Brücke the next 24.0 km stay within about 7 m. The whole course sits within a range of 25 m.
Sonny's LiDAR DTM of Europe, sampled every 25 m, smoothed over 100 m. Raw-to-smoothed ratio 1.73.
What is the indoor finish like?
You run off the street through a gate into the Festhalle, the Messe's domed exhibition hall, and finish on a red carpet sixty metres inside, in front of seats for about 7,000. It's been the finish since 2003, and spectators get in free.
The organiser's runner information.
Why do the clocks matter?
Because the race is held on the last Sunday of October, which is always the day European summer time ends. The clocks go back at 3:00am, so the 10:00am start is CET, an hour later by your body clock than the same time the day before. Set an alarm you trust.
The organiser's race conditions; EU summer time ends on the last Sunday in October.
Can I still get a place for 2026?
Not directly: the race sold out on 30 August, and the organiser runs a waitlist. Transfers between runners close on 4 October. A relay team of four is another way onto the course, on the same route and to the same finish.
The organiser's entry pages, checked September 2026.
Is it a fast course?
Yes. Wilson Kipsang ran 2:03:42 here in 2011, and Hawi Feysa ran 2:17:25 in 2024. The course has one early hill and a long flat middle, and it finishes within a metre of the start's height. What slows Frankfurt is wind, not ground: 2025's race was held back by it.
Race results; this site's course line.
Can a record be set here?
Yes. The course finishes less than a metre above where it starts, and its start and finish are 133 m apart, so it passes both World Athletics tests with room to spare.
World Athletics Competition Rule 31.21, and this site's measurements.
How does the entry price work?
It rises with the order you enter in. For 2026 the first thousand race numbers cost €111, and the next tiers €126, €136 and €146. Everything after number 9,500 cost €156. Registration opened on the day of the 2025 race, so entering early for 2027 is also entering cheaply.
The organiser's fee page for 2026.
How many people run it?
More than 18,500 had registered when the 2026 race sold out on 30 August. Not everyone who enters starts: in 2025, 17,058 entered, 12,642 started and 12,320 finished.
Organiser figures for the 2026 edition.
What is the weather like on race day?
About 12.3 °C during a typical race: that's the median across 29 years, which have run from 4.3 °C to 17.8 °C. 5 of the 29 were wet.
ERA5 reanalysis for the race date, 1995-2025.
Can I use a time here to qualify for Boston?
Yes. As a World Athletics label race it runs on a measured course, and it finishes less than a metre above where it starts, so the B.A.A.'s downhill adjustment, which begins at 1,500 ft of net loss, has nothing to act on. There's one hill, and it's early, then a long flat middle. The start is late enough, at 10:00am, that you can eat breakfast at a normal hour.
Net drop +1 m from this site's course line; 2027 adjustment None. Certification unconfirmed: A World Athletics label race for many years, first as an IAAF Gold Label in 2008; its 2026 label is not confirmed here.
How accurate is the elevation figure?
It comes from Sonny 1" .hgt tiles — CC BY 4.0, sampled every 25 m along the course line and smoothed over 100 m. The raw-to-smoothed ratio here is 1.73. Around 1.3 means the model is reading the ground, not rooftops; above about 2.0 the total climb carries real noise, and the net change is the sturdier number.
0 missing samples · 4 bridge spans corrected.
Sources
Every fact on this page, its source, and the date it was checked · 8
| Fact | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| Course line | Third-party GPX for the 2024 edition. The organiser's kilometre-by-street lists for 2024 and 2025 are identical, and no change has been announced for 2026, whose map is not yet published. The file measures 42.335 km, 0.33 % long, from 709 points; our resampled line measures 42.062 km. Archived with its hash in data/raw/sources. | 2026-09-24 |
| Elevation | Sonny's LiDAR DTM of Europe (CC BY 4.0), sampled every 25 m, smoothed over 100 m. Raw-to-smoothed gain ratio 1.73. Four spans the model read from underneath were straightened between their ends, including both crossings of the Main. That removes a false dive to the water, but a bridge deck arches above a straight line, so the climb onto the Schwanheimer Brücke at 24 km — the one the organiser singles out — is drawn flatter here than it runs. | 2026-09-24 |
| Elevation, independent check | The organiser publishes the relief but no climb figure: 89.4 m to 117.2 m, a range of 27.8 m. We measure 92.7 m to 117.8 m, a range of 25.1 m. The high points agree to within a metre; the low points differ mainly because our line crosses the river on straightened bridges rather than at water level. | 2026-09-24 |
| Race-day weather | ERA5 reanalysis via the Open-Meteo archive, 1995–2025 at the Messe start, 10:00–16:00 local, sampled on the last Sunday in October. 2020 and 2021, when there was no race, are excluded. | 2026-09-24 |
| Course records | Wilson Kipsang 2:03:42 (2011) and Hawi Feysa 2:17:25 (2024), checked against the 2025 results, which broke neither. The organiser's English information page still lists an older women's record. | 2026-09-24 |
| Entry and field | Fees €111–156 by order of entry, €166 for late entry; sold out 30 August 2026 with more than 18,500 registered. In 2025, 17,058 entered, 12,642 started and 12,320 finished, from the organiser's results magazine. | 2026-09-24 |
| Race day | The organiser's 2026 race conditions: first wave 10:00am, all runners across the line by 10:35, finish closing 4:45pm with six hours net. Refreshment points and transport are from the 2025 runner information, as the 2026 edition is not yet published. | 2026-09-24 |
| Record eligibility | World Athletics Competition Rules, Book C, Part III — Competition Rule 31.21: a record course may lose no more than 1 m per kilometre, and its start and finish may be no more than 21.098 km apart. Frankfurt gains 0.6 m overall and its start and finish are 133 m apart. Inside both. | 2026-09-24 |
Until the Frankfurt Marathon · 25 Oct 2026
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— hrs— min— sec
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