When is the Düsseldorf Marathon 2027?

On Sunday, 18 April 2027. The half marathon starts in three waves from 8 am, the marathon at 9:45 am and the marathon relay at 10:15 am at Joseph-Beuys-Ufer. The kids' races take place on Saturday, 17 April 2027 (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, datasport.de).

How do I register for the Uniper Düsseldorf Marathon 2027?

Online through the Datasport registration portal, which is linked from uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de. The registration deadline is 4 April 2027; from 7 April 2027 at 10 am, late registration is possible with a €25 surcharge (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de).

How much is the entry fee for the Düsseldorf Marathon?

The price depends on your bib number: marathon €90 (1–1,000), €105 (1,001–2,002) and €120 (from 2,003). Half marathon €70, €85 and €100, relay €175, €190 and €205 per team (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de).

What is the Düsseldorf Marathon course like?

Start at Joseph-Beuys-Ufer, first north towards the Messe and Nordpark, after about 13 kilometres over the Oberkassel Bridge to Oberkassel, back across the Rhine to the Königsallee, past the Zoopark to the Medienhafen and on to the finish at Untere Rheinwerft. The course is mostly flat (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Course).

How does the marathon relay work?

Four people share the 42.195 kilometres in legs of roughly 11.2, 13.1, 9.2 and 9 kilometres. The start is at 10:15 am, and the entry fee starts at €175 per team (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Marathon relay).

Can I cancel or transfer my registration?

Until 31 December 2026, a cancellation gets you 50 percent of your entry fee back with a medical certificate, after that nothing. Transferring your registration to another person is free until 4 April 2027, after that it costs €20. Switching from the marathon to the half marathon is free (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de).

How many people took part in 2026?

More than 23,000 participants across the whole weekend, kids' races included – a record turnout. Around 300,000 spectators came out across the city as well (Source: d-sports.de).

Uniper Düsseldorf Marathon 2027: Date, Course, Registration

The Uniper Düsseldorf Marathon starts on the Rhine on 18 April 2027. Date, start times, price tiers, course and relay at a glance – plus a week-by-week plan counting back from race day through the winter.

Daniel Gruber · 2 October 2026 · 7 min read

Uniper Düsseldorf Marathon 2027: Date, Course, Registration

In short

The Uniper Düsseldorf Marathon 2027 takes place on Sunday, 18 April 2027; the marathon starts at 9:45 am at Joseph-Beuys-Ufer (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de).
The entry fee rises by bib number, not by date: marathon €90 for the first 1,000 registrations, then €105, and €120 from number 2,003 (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de).
Besides the marathon there is a half marathon (three waves from 8 am), a four-person relay from 10:15 am and, on Saturday, the Kids Cups and Bambini Cup (Source: datasport.de).
The course is mostly flat and crosses the Rhine twice via the Oberkassel Bridge; the finish is at Untere Rheinwerft in the Old Town (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Course).
In 2026, more than 23,000 participants took part over the weekend – a record turnout (Source: d-sports.de).
A 50 percent refund on cancellation is only possible until 31 December 2026 and only with a medical certificate (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de).

The Uniper Düsseldorf Marathon 2027 takes place on Sunday, 18 April 2027 – start at Joseph-Beuys-Ufer, finish at Untere Rheinwerft in the Old Town (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de). Registration is open, and the first 1,000 bibs are sold at the lowest price. But if you want to run the Kö quickly and comfortably in April, the groundwork isn't laid in spring. It happens between Christmas and Easter, in the darkest, wettest stretch of the year.

Key facts at a glance

Aspect	Details
Date	Sunday, 18 April 2027
Start	Joseph-Beuys-Ufer, right on the Rhine
Finish	Untere Rheinwerft, Düsseldorf Old Town
Start times	Half marathon 8:00, 8:20 and 8:40 am (three waves) · Marathon 9:45 am · Marathon relay 10:15 am
Kids' races	Saturday, 17 April 2027: Bambini Cup (approx. 350 m) 11:00 am, Kids Cup Mini (1.1 km) 11:30 am, Kids Cup Maxi (2.5 km) 12:00 noon
Marathon entry fee	€90 (bibs 1–1,000) · €105 (1,001–2,002) · €120 (from 2,003)
Half marathon entry fee	€70 · €85 · €100 (same tiers)
Relay entry fee	€175 · €190 · €205 per team (same tiers)
Registration deadline	4 April 2027, late registration from 7 April 2027, 10 am (plus €25)
Cancellation	50 percent refund with a medical certificate until 31 December 2026, none after that
Course records	Men 2:07:48 (Dereje Debele, 2013) · Women 2:25:15 (Tecla Jelimo Kibet, 2026)
Last edition	26 April 2026, more than 23,000 participants over the weekend (record turnout)

Sources: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de (races, course), datasport.de (registration portal), d-sports.de (2026 review), Wikipedia (course records). As of 2 October 2026.

Registration: why autumn pays off

You register through the Datasport portal, linked from the official Uniper Düsseldorf Marathon website. Price tier I currently applies there: €90 for the marathon, €70 for the half marathon, €175 for a relay team (Source: datasport.de). Prices rise by bib number, not by date: from the 1,001st registration the marathon costs €105, from the 2,003rd it costs €120 (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Marathon). So when these thresholds are crossed depends entirely on how quickly other people sign up.

There is a second reason not to wait too long: in 2026 the half marathon was sold out before race day, with more than 11,000 entries for the half and more than 5,000 for the full distance (Source: d-sports.de, 2026 countdown). The regular registration deadline in 2027 is 4 April. From 7 April at 10 am, late registration opens with a €25 surcharge until race day (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Marathon).

The most important date for planning is in the small print: only until 31 December 2026 do you get 50 percent of your entry fee back on cancellation, and only with a medical certificate. After that, nothing is refunded (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Marathon). Transferring your bib to another person is free until 4 April, after that it costs €20. If you realise 42 kilometres is too much, you can switch to the half marathon for free; going the other way costs the price difference plus a €10 handling fee (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Marathon). That free downgrade is a good safety net in winter.

Marathon, half marathon, relay and Kids Cup

Sunday has three races for adults. The half marathon goes first, in three waves at 8:00, 8:20 and 8:40 am, followed by the marathon at 9:45 am and the marathon relay at 10:15 am (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Races).

The relay splits the 42.195 kilometres between four people. According to the organiser, the legs are roughly 11.2, 13.1, 9.2 and 9 kilometres long (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Marathon relay). That makes it a good entry point for a running group where not everyone is ready for a full marathon yet. School teams born 2011 or later get a special price of €80 per relay, and school classes pay €50 per person in the half marathon (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Half marathon and Marathon relay).

On the Saturday before, the course belongs to the kids: the Bambini Cup over about 350 metres at 11 am, the Kids Cup Mini over 1.1 kilometres at 11:30 am and the Kids Cup Maxi over 2.5 kilometres at 12 noon, with an entry fee of €6 to €8 (Source: datasport.de).

The course: across the Rhine twice

According to the organiser, the course is varied and mostly flat (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Course). From Joseph-Beuys-Ufer you first run north along the Rhine towards the trade fair grounds (Messe) and Nordpark, with the first aid station at around kilometre 5 near the Aquazoo. Then the course turns back towards the city centre and crosses the Oberkassel Bridge after about 13 kilometres. A loop through Oberkassel follows on the left bank of the Rhine, and the half marathon mark is there too. Back on the right bank, the course runs along the Königsallee and past the Zoopark, on to the Medienhafen and, after another loop over the Kö, to the finish at Untere Rheinwerft in the Old Town (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Course).

The organiser doesn't publish an official elevation figure. For your training plan, that means the two bridge climbs are the only real ramps, and everything else is tempo work on flat asphalt. There is music along the way: after 24 DJs in 2025 and 39 DJs in 2026, 42 DJs are planned for 2027, one per kilometre, plus another at the Marktplatz (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Run to the Beat).

Looking back: the 26 April 2026 edition

The marathon has existed since 2003. After a six-year break it returned on 27 April 2025 as the Uniper Düsseldorf Marathon (Source: de.wikipedia.org). The second edition after the restart, on 26 April 2026, brought record participation: more than 23,000 participants across the whole weekend, kids' races included, and around 300,000 spectators across the city (Source: d-sports.de, 2026 review).

Dmitrii Nedelin won the men's marathon in 2:08:54, and Tecla Jelimo Kibet won the women's race in 2:25:15 (Source: d-sports.de, 2026 review). Kibet's time is also the women's course record; for the men, Dereje Debele's 2:07:48 from 2013 still stands (Source: de.wikipedia.org). Hendrik Pfeiffer won the half marathon in 1:04:04 and Esther Pfeiffer in 1:08:38 (Source: d-sports.de, 2026 review). For an overview of how Düsseldorf compares with Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, see our article on the biggest marathons in Germany.

An April marathon is decided in January

From today, 2 October, to the start on 18 April it is a good 28 weeks. That sounds like plenty of time, but count back from race day and the plan lands in the middle of winter:

From Monday, 28 December 2026: If you follow a 16-week plan, you start between the holidays. Until then, easy base training three to four times a week is enough.
31 December 2026: The last day on which a cancellation with a certificate still gets you 50 percent of your entry fee back. So take an honest look at your first training weeks before New Year's Eve.
From Monday, 25 January 2027: The latest sensible start for a 12-week plan. From here the long runs get longer week by week, in the coldest and darkest phase of the year.
February and March: The core phase with the longest sessions. The weekends in these months are the real race days.
From late March: Three weeks before the start, you cut the volume so your legs are fresh on 18 April.
4 April 2027: Regular registration deadline and the last day for a free bib transfer.

The problem with a spring marathon isn't the distance, it's the season in which you earn it. It's dark in the morning, dark in the evening, the wind blows along the Rhine, and rain quickly turns an easy run into a chore. This is where many plans fall apart: not in April, but on a rainy Tuesday in February. What helps is planning rather than willpower. Set fixed times when you run, pick lit routes for your weekday sessions and move the long run to the weekend, in daylight. How to approach clothing, visibility and warming up in winter is covered in our article on running in winter.

Getting through winter with a group

Long runs in January are easier when someone is waiting at the meeting point at 9 am. Düsseldorf has plenty of running groups and run clubs with fixed weekly sessions, from easy after-work runs to the Sunday long run. You'll find an overview at Running in Düsseldorf. If you want to test yourself over a shorter distance before the marathon, you'll find the city's races in the yearly overview of running events in Düsseldorf and in the guide to running events in Düsseldorf 2026.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

When is the Düsseldorf Marathon 2027?: On Sunday, 18 April 2027. The half marathon starts in three waves from 8 am, the marathon at 9:45 am and the marathon relay at 10:15 am at Joseph-Beuys-Ufer. The kids' races take place on Saturday, 17 April 2027 (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, datasport.de).
How do I register for the Uniper Düsseldorf Marathon 2027?: Online through the Datasport registration portal, which is linked from uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de. The registration deadline is 4 April 2027; from 7 April 2027 at 10 am, late registration is possible with a €25 surcharge (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de).
How much is the entry fee for the Düsseldorf Marathon?: The price depends on your bib number: marathon €90 (1–1,000), €105 (1,001–2,002) and €120 (from 2,003). Half marathon €70, €85 and €100, relay €175, €190 and €205 per team (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de).
What is the Düsseldorf Marathon course like?: Start at Joseph-Beuys-Ufer, first north towards the Messe and Nordpark, after about 13 kilometres over the Oberkassel Bridge to Oberkassel, back across the Rhine to the Königsallee, past the Zoopark to the Medienhafen and on to the finish at Untere Rheinwerft. The course is mostly flat (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Course).
How does the marathon relay work?: Four people share the 42.195 kilometres in legs of roughly 11.2, 13.1, 9.2 and 9 kilometres. The start is at 10:15 am, and the entry fee starts at €175 per team (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de, Marathon relay).
Can I cancel or transfer my registration?: Until 31 December 2026, a cancellation gets you 50 percent of your entry fee back with a medical certificate, after that nothing. Transferring your registration to another person is free until 4 April 2027, after that it costs €20. Switching from the marathon to the half marathon is free (Source: uniper-duesseldorfmarathon.de).
How many people took part in 2026?: More than 23,000 participants across the whole weekend, kids' races included – a record turnout. Around 300,000 spectators came out across the city as well (Source: d-sports.de).