Participants waiting for the start on the banks of the Main

Marathon in Frankfurt

We want more than a marathon

Frankfurt needs a movement.

What's missing for you? Help shape it

A marathon that …

  • brings people together.
  • strengthens clubs.
  • champions volunteering.
  • gives the economy a lift.
  • puts Frankfurt in the spotlight.
  • gets our city moving.

We believe Frankfurt deserves a marathon that is not just a running event but a community project for the whole city.

That is why we are campaigning for a marathon that belongs to Frankfurt.

Join in. Shape it. Move with us.

Why we're doing this

From Frankfurt. For Frankfurt. With Frankfurt.

Frankfurt is our home, our running route and our community. We want to inspire young people to take up sport and to show what makes Frankfurt special: diversity, openness, solidarity and drive.

The marathon is the strongest moment we share. A day when the whole city is on display. And the starting point for 365 days of movement.

The foundation was laid in 1981 by OSC Hoechst. The club from the west of Frankfurt founded our marathon, Germany's first city marathon. When it was cancelled in 1986, the City of Frankfurt brought it back as organiser in 1987. For two decades, the marathon remained an event from Frankfurt, for Frankfurt. In 2002, the city handed the organisation over to the Regensburg agency motion events, and in 2026 London Marathon Events bought the agency. Since then, Frankfurt's marathon has been in London's hands and part of their expansion in Europe.

Frankfurt is more than a venue in a series, and our marathon is more than one running event a year. It is a flagship for our region, our values and our passion for sport.

That is why we have applied to the city to host the marathon from 2027, because we believe the Frankfurt Marathon belongs in Frankfurt's hands, backed by the clubs and organised for the people of our city.

What does that look like?

Our plan

Ten points for the new Frankfurt marathon experience.

  1. Strong roots in and close cooperation with Frankfurt's sports clubs and stakeholders
  2. National elite: hosting the German Marathon Championships
  3. An experience-led festival of mass participation sport with digital services and technology
  4. An optimised, fast course for elite and recreational runners that puts Frankfurt on show
  5. Strengthening the city's community by reaching out openly to all communities
  6. Inclusive, year-round involvement of schools and sports clubs
  7. A charity event that supports Frankfurt sport by reinvesting proceeds
  8. Bringing European values to life and showing Frankfurt as a cosmopolitan metropolis
  9. Lasting impetus for tourism, retail and the local economy
  10. A comprehensive sustainability strategy: ecological, social and economic

We are already getting Frankfurt moving.

At the Frankfurter Sparkasse Skylight Run, we shared an extraordinary night of running with more than 1,000 participants.

At our monthly RUN N RAVE events, we regularly bring several hundred people together.

With our run club map, we connect running groups and communities across the region.

For us, this is only the beginning, because a strong running culture grows every day of the year.

For sport in our city

We give something back to Frankfurt.

10%

Written into our articles of association

10% of our surplus goes to charitable causes. That is how we strengthen sport in Frankfurt.

Planned for the marathon

A donation model open to all: runners, clubs, companies and everyone along the course. With charity places, kilometre challenges and fundraising campaigns.