FRANKFURT MARATHON HISTORY: FROM A 1981 CLUB RACE TO THE FESTHALLE FINISH

The athletics club OSC Hoechst 1960 organized the first edition on May 17, 1981, with the chemical company Hoechst as main sponsor. Four decades later, the race is Germany's second-largest marathon by number of finishers and holds a men's course record that has stood since 2011.

A Spring Race in 1981

The first Frankfurt Marathon drew 3,169 entries, and 2,588 runners finished. Emil Zátopek, the Czech runner who won the 1952 Olympic marathon, started the race.

Kjell-Erik Ståhl of Sweden won in 2:13:20. The race grew quickly in its first years, reaching 7,297 finishers by 1985.

German runners took several of the early titles. Charlotte Teske won the women's race in 1983 and 1984, and Herbert Steffny won the men's race in 1985 in 2:12:12.

Cancelled, Then Revived

The growth did not secure the event. Hoechst stopped organizing the race, and no marathon was held in 1986.

The city of Frankfurt and the athletics department of Eintracht Frankfurt revived it in 1987. They made two changes that still define the race.

The date moved from spring to October, which placed Frankfurt in the autumn marathon season. The start and finish moved to the Messegelände, the city's exhibition grounds.

The Festhalle Finish

The start sits on the Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage next to the Messeturm. The last three kilometers pass the Alte Oper and the Platz der Republik before the course turns into the exhibition grounds.

Runners cover the final meters on a red carpet laid inside the Festhalle and cross the line indoors.

German Winners in the 1980s and 1990s

Steffny won twice more after the revival, in 1989 in 2:13:51 and in 1991 in 2:13:45. He is one of two men to win Frankfurt three times.

Konrad Dobler won in 1990, Stephan Freigang in 1993, Martin Bremer in 1996 and Michael Fietz in 1997. The women's race produced its own three-time German winner in Katrin Dörre-Heinig, who won in 1995 in 2:31:31, in 1996 in 2:28:33 and in 1997 in 2:26:48.

Her winning time dropped in each of those three years, by close to five minutes in total.

Into the 2000s

Luminita Zaituc, running for Germany, won the women's race in 2001 and 2003. Melanie Kraus won in 2007 and Sabrina Mockenhaupt in 2008.

On the men's side, Wilfred Kigen of Kenya won three straight titles from 2005 to 2007, matching Steffny's total.

The race took on its sponsors' names over these years. It ran as the Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon until 2010 and the BMW Frankfurt Marathon until 2015, and it has been the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon since 2016.

Kipsang's Two Years

Wilson Kipsang of Kenya won Frankfurt in 2010 in 2:04:57. He returned in 2011 and ran 2:03:42, four seconds outside the world record at the time.

That time remains the men's course record 15 years later. No Frankfurt winner since has finished within 70 seconds of it.

Kipsang went on to set a world record of 2:03:23 in Berlin in 2013.

The 2010s

Kenyan and Ethiopian runners traded wins through the decade. Patrick Makau of Kenya won in 2012 in 2:06:08, and Vincent Kipruto of Kenya won in 2013 in 2:06:15.

Mark Kosgei Kiptoo of Kenya won in 2014 in 2:06:49. Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia won in 2015 in 2:06:26, and Mark Korir of Kenya won in 2016 in 2:06:48.

Shura Kitata of Ethiopia won in 2017 in 2:05:50. Kelkile Gezahegn of Ethiopia won in 2018, and Fikre Bekele Tefera of Ethiopia won in 2019 in 2:07:08.

The Women's Race After 2010

Mamitu Daska of Ethiopia won in 2011 in 2:21:59, and Meselech Melkamu of Ethiopia won in 2012 in 2:21:01. Caroline Kilel of Kenya won in 2013 in 2:22:34.

Gulume Tollesa of Ethiopia won in 2015 in 2:23:12, and Daska won again in 2016 in 2:25:27. Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya, the 2016 Olympic 5,000 meters champion, won in 2017 in 2:23:35.

Meskerem Assefa of Ethiopia won in 2018 in 2:20:36. She returns to the start list in 2026.

The Pandemic Gap

The 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. When the race returned in 2022 with 7,984 finishers, Brimin Misoi of Kenya won the men's race in 2:06:11. Selly Chepyego Kaptich of Kenya won the women's race in 2:23:11, her first marathon victory.

Participation has recovered since. The race had 9,665 finishers in 2023 and 13,939 in 2024.

Misoi won again in 2023 in 2:04:53, the fastest winning time since Kipsang's record. Buzunesh Gudeta of Ethiopia won the women's race the same year in 2:19:27.

Feysa's Record

Hawi Feysa of Ethiopia won in 2024 in 2:17:25, setting the current women's course record. Benard Biwott of Kenya won the men's race that year in 2:05:54.

Feysa has since won the Chicago Marathon twice, most recently on October 11, 2026, in 2:13:33.

In 2025, Belay Asfaw of Ethiopia won the men's race in 2:06:16. Buze Diriba Kejela of Ethiopia won the women's race in 2:19:34, then won the Amsterdam Marathon in October 2026 in a course record 2:16:12.

Frankfurt Today

The race runs as a World Athletics Elite Label event. Kenyan and Ethiopian men have won every edition since 2010, a span of 14 races.

The 2026 race on October 25 is the 43rd edition. Three German men with personal bests under 2:05 are entered, and a win by any of them would end a run of Kenyan and Ethiopian victories that dates to 2010.