October 5th, 2025
As in every year, a marathon was again on my to-do list for 2025. The original idea of running the marathon in Munich was quickly discarded, as at the time of my planning it was even not sure, whether the Munich Marathon 2025 would even take place. After managing to "align" the year with the number of marathons I did run in previous years, this year's marathon was number 25. I ran my first marathon in Cologne in 1998. The original plan to run the 20th anniversary marathon in Cologne again in 2020 couldn't be realized due to the coronavirus. As mentioned before Munich was not an Option and therefore it was clear that marathon number 25 would be run in Cologne.
To avoid having to travel on Friday or Saturday additionally from Bonn to Cologne to pick up my race packet, I ticked during the online Marathon registration the option to receive the race packet by mail (for the hefty price of €25). However, the organizers made a mistake, and I (and probably many other marathon participants) received a bib number for the Half-Marathon. An Email received a few days later explained that this was due to an incorrect allocation of the "number range." This was corrected with the second shipment of the race packet.
A traditional Marathon Kölsch glass was sent along with the race packet. After a bit of searching at home, I actually managed to find the Kölsch glass that I had received at my first marathon in 1998. ("Kölsch" = Cologne style beer)
Since family members live in Bonn, it was clear that I would arrive a few days earlier, spend some nights in Bonn, and then take the regional train to Cologne on Sunday morning. The Cologne Marathon is the fourth-largest marathon in Germany after Berlin, Hamburg, and Frankfurt. This was clearly visible and noticeable on the train to Cologne on Sunday morning. The train was completely overcrowded, and I was reminded of the time living in China and taking the subway.
After arriving at the Cologne Central Station, it was a short distance walking to the bag drop. But it took more ime as expected because there were no signs in which direction to walk. Together with my daughter's partner, who had also registered for the marathon and with whom I had arranged a meeting point, we walked then together for about 30 minutes across the Hohenzollern Bridge to the starting area at Deutz Train Station.
Like many other participants, I also was wearing some "disposable clothing" during waiting for the start. Unfortunately, there were no boxes or bins in the starting area to dispose this clothing. As a result, discarded clothing was lying around everywhere.
As scheduled at 10:30am the race started. First for the red starting block, and then about 15 minutes later for my green starting block. After crossing the Deutz Bridge, the route initially headed south for 7 km to Rodenkirchen, then back via Rudolfplatz and through the Cologne districts of Sülz and Lindenthal to the north, reaching Niehl and Nippes. Via Riehler Straße and Hansaring, the route then headed south again, passing Rudolfplatz for the third time and then through Hohe Straße to the finish line near the Cologne Cathedral. The atmosphere was particularly fantastic at Rudolfplatz and on Venloer Straße (where every runner could "enjoy" a shower of confetti).
With my family members I had arranged meeting points, and it was an additional surprise to see a great sign, held up by my granddaughter, on which I could read "Run, Grandpa, Run." Unfortunately, the anniversary video, which my daughter and her partner had created and uploaded, wasn't shown when I arrived at the video screen. On the last few meters along Hohe Straße, my daughter's partner (who had finished more than two hours before me) ran alongside me and gave me some extra motivation for the final meters.
All together it was fun to run again a Marathon in Cologne, although I had expected a slightly better finishing time.
For pictures please check the German version of this article.
Funny:
I had arranged meeting points with my family members, including roughly the time when they could see me. While waiting, my family members were approached by a journalist from the newspaper "Kölnische Rundschau". Some information from this conversation subsequently found its way into the Kölnische Rundschau's online article about the Cologne Marathon. Here is the link to this freely accessible article (in German only).
And also interesting:
During the run, I was wearing a shirt with the words "Guangzhou Marathon 2019" on the backside. A runner running behind me approached me, and we chatted briefly. After taking a photo, he told me that all the photos he took along the way would be featured on the marathon4you website. Here's the link to the article about the 2025 Cologne Marathon, with many great pictures (in German only).
In 2025, around 8,000 runners reached the finish line of the marathon distance. Here is the link to the official website of the Cologne Marathon.
- Great atmosphere almost like during the famous Cologne Carneval along the route (with a few exceptions in the very south and very north of the route)
- Enough refreshment stations along the route (with water and later also with coke and isotonic drinks)
- Sufficient food and drinks after the finish (at least for the faster runners), less choices for the slower ones
- unconventional medal by of wood
Not so good:
- For mailing the bib number and the clothing drop off bag 25€ were charged. (in comparison: Munich Marathon 2025: 15€)
- Inside and around the Cologne Central Station there were no "signposts" like signs or people indicating the way to the clothing drop-off stations. The navigation with Google Maps, which some people tried, was of course not successful, because the shortest way shown by Google was closed by gates around the finish area.
- The way from the clothing drop-off stations to the start was marked with "To the Start" signs, but participants had to cross the running course on the way there. The volunteers who organized this crossing with barriers (due to half marathon finishers) were visibly overstretched, and long queues formed. A temporary bridge like the one set up a bit further up the course would have alleviated this bottleneck.
- There were no signs in the starting area indicating where to dispose clothing. There were no boxes or cartons like I've seen at other marathons. The result was that clothing was lying around everywhere.
- Kilometer markings were small and not always easily visible
- Since the refreshment stations weren't set up exactly every 5km, signs at the refreshment stations indicating the distance to the next station would have been helpful. Furthermore, the refreshment stations were sometimes only visible very late.
Used running shoe: Saucony Kinvara 16