2026 RACE BRIEFING
Cologne Marathon
+1:57 versus your goal from a single 10:00 live city forecast snapshot.
Explore the Cologne Marathon with race-day weather when available, course context and an even-pace reference for your goal time.
Explore your pace planZoom to drag the route. Keyboard: + / −, arrows, Home to reset.
Route edition unverified. Check the organiser’s current course.
Race-day weather
- Air temperature
- 11°C
- Dew point
- 10°C
- Humidity
- 95%
- Rain chance
- 3%
Hover or drag to explore. Use ← → when focused.
Start uses the advertised 10:30 local time. Goal finish assumes your target pace; your assigned wave may differ.
Race day, hour by hour.
Swipe, drag or use the arrows. Select an hour for the full picture.
Forecast for 4 October 2026, Europe/Berlin. Open-Meteo · refreshes approximately hourly. City-level conditions; exposure varies around the course. The advertised first start is 10:30; check your assigned wave.
What the weather may cost
RunWeather’s shared pace model estimates the effect of one weather hour at your goal effort. It is a planning preview, not a predicted finish time or a full course simulation.
Snapshot at 10:00 local using live city forecast. Route climbing, turns, shelter, fuelling, fitness, heat adaptation and wave timing are not modelled here. Rain is excluded because a probability is not a measured rain rate. Explore the pace model.
What the course asks of you
Cologne starts in Deutz, crosses the Rhine early, threads through Rheinauhafen, Lindenthal, Ehrenfeld and Nippes, then finishes by Cologne Cathedral. The organiser calls the course flat and fast. The displayed GPX is a reference file linked from its course page; confirm the current streets before racing.
Along the route
- 1 KMDeutzer Brücke
An early crossing of the Rhine. Use effort rather than chasing an exact pace on the bridge.
- 12 KMSüdstadt
The route works back through the southern neighbourhoods after the opening kilometres.
- 24 KMRudolfplatz
A busy central-city passage around the point where conserving effort starts to pay off.
- 27 KMEhrenfeld
The course heads through Ehrenfeld before the final northern and central sections.
- 40 KMRudolfplatz again
The late return to the centre leaves only a short run to the cathedral finish.
- FINISHCologne Cathedral
The advertised finish area is by the cathedral; follow current organiser signage.
Landmarks and approximate kilometres from the organiser’s course description. Refer to the current race map and on-course markers.
The organiser lists a 10:30 marathon start, subject to change. Check the wind and rain outlook through your expected finish.
Compare the conditions at your start and expected finish before settling on kit and effort.
Confirm late changes to the route, start wave and logistics with the organiser.
What mornings like this have looked like
A useful range for planning Cologne Marathon: hourly weather near Cologne for the same calendar date ±5 days in 2021–2025. These are city-grid samples, not past race editions or a forecast.
The five-year picture
- Air temperature
- 12°C
- Humidity
- 86%
- Wind
- 13 km/h
- Hours with rain
- 25%
Hover or drag to explore. Use ← → when focused. Shading: middle 80% of sampled temperatures.
The sampled air warms by about 4°C across four hours. Check your expected finish-hour forecast, not just the start.
Where the breeze came from
13 of 55 samples · 24%
Mean 14 km/h
The petals show how often the wind came from each direction at the sampled start hour. They do not predict the direction on race day.
A city-point wind rose cannot tell you which parts of the course will be sheltered or exposed. Use the live forecast and the organiser’s route map together.
Method: 55 ERA5 hourly samples at 10:00 local time, across 11 calendar days per year in 2021–2025. The sample uses the hour containing the advertised first start; waves may start later. Grid weather is modelled reanalysis, not an on-course station reading. Open-Meteo Historical Weather API . Snapshot generated 2026-09-29.
Find your starting pace
Start with your goal. Leave room for the day.
Set a finish time to compare an even-pace baseline with a one-hour weather snapshot. Use the changing forecast and course notes to decide where to be more conservative.
The baseline ignores hills and stops. The weather preview models one selected hour.
Explore the heat pace calculator3:15:00 finish · 42.2 km
View even-pace checkpoints
| Distance | Elapsed time |
|---|---|
| 5.0 km | 0:23:06 |
| 10.0 km | 0:46:13 |
| 15.0 km | 1:09:19 |
| 20.0 km | 1:32:26 |
| 25.0 km | 1:55:32 |
| 30.0 km | 2:18:39 |
| 35.0 km | 2:41:45 |
| 40.0 km | 3:04:51 |
| 42.2 km · Finish | 3:15:00 |
Cologne Marathon FAQs
When is the 2026 Cologne Marathon?
Cologne Marathon is scheduled for 4 October 2026. Confirm the latest details on the official event website before travelling.
Is the weather shown a forecast for Cologne Marathon?
The race-day forecast panel uses provider data for the event date when available. The 2021–2025 ERA5 race-window sample describes nearby calendar dates, not held race editions or a prediction for race day. Monthly averages, when shown, cover all hours of the event month.
What is the historical race-window weather like for Cologne Marathon?
At 10:00 local, the 2021–2025 ERA5 calendar-window sample near Cologne averages 12°C, 86% relative humidity and 13 km/h wind. The middle 80% of sampled start-hour temperatures is about 9–16°C. These are 55 city-grid samples from the event date ±5 days, not observations from held editions or a forecast.
Can the race-window history predict Cologne Marathon weather?
No. It describes the same calendar window in 2021–2025. Use the live event-day forecast when available, check conditions through your own expected finish time, and follow the organiser for current start and course information.
Sources & race information
Weather-window data: Open-Meteo ERA5 Historical Weather API, sampled at the city grid for 2021–2025 and generated 2026-09-29. These calendar-window samples are not official race-day observations.
Guide reviewed . RunWeather is an independent guide, not the race organiser. Dates, waves and routes can change; the organiser’s latest instructions take priority. Course reference: GPX linked from the organiser’s course page (file named KM-2024.gpx); exact route edition unverified.
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