Course Map
Route based on 2024 course — may differ slightly from this year.
About this Race
The Mainova Frankfurt Marathon is one of Europe's fastest courses, a flat city loop through Germany's banking capital, weaving past its distinctive skyline of glass towers and along the river Main. The defining flourish is the finish: runners enter the Festhalle arena to sprint down a red carpet under spotlights and roaring music, one of the sport's great theatrical endings. Held in late October, it typically delivers crisp, fast conditions and attracts elite fields hunting quick times. The profile is pancake-flat with only gentle bends, putting the emphasis entirely on pacing and fitness. It suits the dedicated PB chaser who wants speed and a genuinely spectacular finish-line moment.
Course Insight
Frankfurt is engineered for fast times: a flat, smooth autumn course beneath the city's financial-district skyline, with little to interrupt a well-drilled rhythm. The signature is the finish, where you run off the streets and into the Festhalle arena onto a red carpet under spotlights with an announcer calling you home, one of the most theatrical closes in the sport. Pace it as a PB attempt, because nothing in the terrain will save a reckless start. October usually delivers cool, runnable air. Hold your nerve through the flat middle miles and that indoor finish becomes a reward rather than a relief.
Difficulty Breakdown
Mostly due to very flat, lots of turns.
Course Details
- Course type
- Loop
- Elevation gain
- 95m
- Elevation loss
- 95m
- Highest point
- 117m
- Lowest point
- 90m
- Net elevation
- 0m
- Start
- Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage
- Cutoff time
- 6h 0m
Course Records
- Men's
- 2:03:42 — Wilson Kipsang (Kenya), 2011
- Women's
- 2:17:25 — Hawi Feysa (Ethiopia), 2024
Race History
The Mainova Frankfurt Marathon, first held in 1981, is one of Germany's oldest and fastest marathons, run on a flat course through the banking capital. It is famous for its theatrical finish on a red carpet inside the Festhalle arena, and for the speed of its course, where Wilson Kipsang set the course record of 2:03:42 in 2011, two years before he went on to set the outright marathon world record at Berlin. Over the decades it grew into a magnet for elite fields and time-hunters drawn by its quick layout and crisp autumn conditions. Run each October, it remains one of Europe's premier personal-best destinations.
Plan Your Trip
Everything you need to know to get there, get settled, and get to the start line.
- Nearest airport(s)
- Frankfurt (FRA), Frankfurt-Hahn (HHN)
- Best area to stay
- The Innenstadt for proximity to the start and finish hotels, Sachsenhausen for characterful stays across the Main, and the Westend for quieter upscale options.
- Getting to the start
- The start is in the city centre; take the U-Bahn or S-Bahn to a central stop and walk in, with the finish at the Festhalle by Messe.