When is the 2026 Hamburg Half Marathon?

On Sunday, 25 October 2026. The original date of 28 June was postponed because of the weather. The first start is at 9:30 (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de).

Regular registration for €85 ran until 6 October 2026. From 7 October until 9:00 on race day, 25 October, online late entries are possible for €87 plus a €3 timing fee, as long as the 24,000 limit has not been reached. In early October the half marathon could still be booked. There is no waiting list (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race info and FAQ).

Where are the start and finish?

The start is on the Reeperbahn (U St. Pauli), the finish on Karolinenstraße at the Messe (U Messehallen, S Dammtor). Bags can only be dropped on Sunday from 8:00 at the Messe, not at the start (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race info and FAQ).

Mostly. According to the elevation profile it climbs to about 35 m in the first kilometres towards Altona, drops to the Elbe and stays flat until km 20. The last kilometre to the Messe goes uphill again (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, elevation profile).

When is the 2027 Hamburg Half Marathon?

Not yet fixed. According to the organiser's FAQ, the 2027 date is not yet known (as of 4 October 2026).

hella hamburg halbmarathon 2026: guide to the 25 October date

Postponed in June because of the weather, now on 25 October 2026: the 32nd Hamburg Half Marathon starts an hour later than planned on the Reeperbahn. Here is late entry, the course with its elevation profile and the rules for running groups.

Daniel Gruber · 4 October 2026 · 9 min read

hella hamburg halbmarathon 2026: guide to the 25 October date

The 32nd hella hamburg halbmarathon (Hamburg Half Marathon) takes place on Sunday, 25 October 2026, four months later than planned. It was originally set for 28 June, but a few days before, the organiser postponed the event because of the weather to a date that was still open at the time (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, news of 24 June 2026). The autumn date has been fixed since 3 July. As always, the start is on the Reeperbahn and the finish is at the exhibition grounds, the Messe (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race info). Here is what the move to autumn means for your race day, how you might still get a bib and where the course hurts. For the city's other races, see our overview of running events in Hamburg.

What changes with the autumn date

The organiser adjusted three things for 25 October (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, news of 3 July 2026):

All start times move back by one hour, to account for the clock change the night before and the cooler October mornings. The first wave now starts at 9:30 (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race info).
The course stays almost the same. According to the organiser, mainly the finish area and the expo are adjusted.
Your start wave stays. If you were already entered for June, you keep your assigned wave and cannot change it.

Clocks go back in the night before the race, so you get an extra hour of sleep (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, news of 21 July 2026). Shifting the June schedule by one hour puts the seven waves, A to G, between 9:30 and 11:00 at 15-minute intervals (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race-day info of 8 June 2026 and news of 3 July 2026). You get your exact wave by email about 14 days before the event (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, FAQ).

The move also changes what you bring. In June the talk was all about heat; in October you will be standing on the Reeperbahn in the morning waiting for your wave. An old jacket or a bin bag for the wait is more useful than an extra water bottle. Note that you cannot drop a bag at the start, only on Sunday from 8:00 at the Messe (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, FAQ), so plan the walk from the Messe to the start.

25 October at a glance

Item	Details
Date	Sunday, 25 October 2026, first start 9:30
Start	Reeperbahn (U St. Pauli)
Finish	Karolinenstraße/Messe (U Messehallen, S Dammtor)
Distance	21.0975 km, point to point, officially measured and record-eligible
Field limit	24,000
Course closes	14:40, maximum running time 3:30
Entry fee	€85 until 6 October, €87 from 7 October, plus €3 timing fee
Bib pick-up	Fri 23 and Sat 24 October 10:00–20:00, Sun 25 October 8:00–9:30, Messe
Pacers	1:30, 1:45, 2:00, 2:15 and 2:30
Kids	Bärenlauf (kids' race) over 800 m on Saturday, 24 October, sold out by early October

Sources: hamburg-halbmarathon.de (race info, FAQ, registration, news of 3 July 2026). As of 4 October 2026.

Can you still get a bib?

In April all 24,000 places sold out for the second year running (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, news of 28 April 2026). The postponement changed that: anyone who could not make the new date could withdraw with a full refund until 16 August, and since 12 August the organiser has been reselling the freed-up places (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, news of 21 July and 12 August 2026).

Deadlines and fees at a glance, each plus a €3 timing fee (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race info):

Until Tuesday, 6 October 2026, 23:59: regular registration for €85.
7 to 13 October 2026: online late entry for €87, paid by SEPA direct debit.
14 October to race day, 25 October, 9:00: online late entry for €87, paid in cash on site.

Late entry is only possible as long as the 24,000 limit has not been reached. In early October the half marathon could still be booked in the registration portal, while the Bärenlauf kids' race was already sold out (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, registration). Whether places are still available when you look is only shown by the organiser's registration page. There is no waiting list (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, FAQ).

If you are thinking about taking over a friend's place: the organiser does not allow transfers at all. It cites its crowd-management model, which set 24,000 half marathoners as the safe maximum and relies on a predictable no-show rate, and the resale market for bibs (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, FAQ). Running with someone else's bib means disqualification; according to the FAQ, whoever passes on their bib is banned from all the organiser's events for at least three years. The optional withdrawal insurance could only be used until 6 October.

The course in three parts

According to the organiser, the 21 km pass almost 50 sights (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, about the race). For pacing, the current course map dated August 2026 matters more than the postcard views (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, course map and elevation profile). It splits into three very different sections:

Km 0 to 5: up to Altona. From the Reeperbahn the course heads west along Königstraße. The elevation profile shows it climbing from just under 20 m to about 35 m. Because Elbchaussee and Klopstockstraße were not finished in time after roadworks, a loop of about 3.4 km runs via Max-Brauer-Allee, Lobuschstraße, Arnoldstraße, Keplerstraße, Bernadottestraße and Holländische Reihe back to Palmaille (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, course presentation of 4 June 2026). This section is narrow and rolling, and you run it on fresh legs in a dense field. Trying to bank time here costs more than it gains.

Km 5 to 10: down to the Elbe. After Palmaille the course drops more than 20 m in just over a kilometre to the St. Pauli fish market. Then come Hafenstraße, the Landungsbrücken piers, Baumwall and the Speicherstadt warehouse district, flat and at river level. Around km 9 and 10 the route runs through the Wallring tunnel (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, course map and elevation profile). The descent after km 5 tempts you to let the pace run away. Your quads will thank you if you don't.

Km 11 to the finish: the Alster and the final climb. Over the Kennedy Bridge the course reaches the east side of the Outer Alster lake, runs north via Schöne Aussicht, Fährhausstraße and Sierichstraße and comes back down the west side via Harvestehuder Weg and Alsterufer. New in 2026 is the stretch along Alsterufer past the former US consulate, which according to the organiser the course last used in 2001 (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, course presentation of 4 June 2026). It stays flat until km 20. After that the course climbs via Esplanade, Gorch-Fock-Wall and St. Petersburger Strasse from below 10 m to above 20 m over the last kilometre (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, elevation profile). The 2025 race report explicitly calls the last half-kilometre "properly uphill"; it cost both winners the course record (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race report of 29 June 2025). Save something for the end.

There are seven refreshment points with water, and the last three also serve a sports drink. Splits are taken at km 5, 10, 15 and 20; there is no live tracking (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race info and FAQ). Regular headphones are not allowed; open-ear models are tolerated.

Bring your running group

The organiser explicitly mentions the many running crews that have marked the date (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, about the race). Three rules help if you are running as a group:

Start together: you may not move to an earlier wave, but you may move to a later one. If you want to run with people from another wave, line up together in the later one (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race-day info of 8 June 2026 and FAQ).
Team scoring without extra entry: for clubs and running groups, the timing system builds teams automatically from the first three finishers, separately for men and women and regardless of age group (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race info). So enter the same club name when you register.
Agree a meeting point: the finish is only about 1.5 km from the start, according to the organiser, but 21 km and thousands of people lie in between (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, about the race). Agree a spot at the Messe in advance rather than by phone in the finish area.

Weekend sessions together help in the last weeks. Lauftreffs (group runs) and run clubs in the city are listed under running in Hamburg.

Race day: bibs, bags, public transport

Bibs are handed out at the Messe; the exact location is still to be announced. The organiser recommends Friday or Saturday and warns of queues. You need your bib number from the email and photo ID; you can collect for others with an authorisation and a copy of their ID. Bibs are not posted (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, FAQ). Pre-ordered shirts and socks must be collected by 10:00 on Sunday.

On race day your bib is your ticket for the journey there and back within HVV rings A to F (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, FAQ). Parking near the finish is limited; the organiser recommends the U-Bahn and S-Bahn and sets up a free bike park (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race info). Showers, changing rooms and toilets are in the finish area, with portable toilets at the start and at the refreshment points. The award ceremony starts around 12:00 on the forecourt of the Messe.

Records, 2025 and the 2027 date

2025 set an event record with 18,000 entries. Samwel Mailu won in 1:01:03 and Joan Jepleting in 1:10:12. Both missed the course records of Merhawi Kesete (1:00:52, 2015) and Lonah Salpeter (1:10:05, 2023) by a few seconds (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race report of 29 June 2025).

The organiser's FAQ says it does not yet know when the 2027 edition will take place (as of 4 October 2026), and it is working on a long-term solution (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, FAQ and news of 3 July 2026). We cover the city's other big road races in our guides to the Haspa Marathon Hamburg and the PSD Bank Halbmarathon Hamburg. For a big spring half outside Hamburg, see our guide to the Berlin Half Marathon.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

When is the 2026 Hamburg Half Marathon?: On Sunday, 25 October 2026. The original date of 28 June was postponed because of the weather. The first start is at 9:30 (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de).
Can I still enter?: Regular registration for €85 ran until 6 October 2026. From 7 October until 9:00 on race day, 25 October, online late entries are possible for €87 plus a €3 timing fee, as long as the 24,000 limit has not been reached. In early October the half marathon could still be booked. There is no waiting list (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race info and FAQ).
Can I take over someone else's place?: No. The organiser does not allow transfers. Running with someone else's bib means disqualification (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, FAQ).
Where are the start and finish?: The start is on the Reeperbahn (U St. Pauli), the finish on Karolinenstraße at the Messe (U Messehallen, S Dammtor). Bags can only be dropped on Sunday from 8:00 at the Messe, not at the start (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, race info and FAQ).
Is the course flat?: Mostly. According to the elevation profile it climbs to about 35 m in the first kilometres towards Altona, drops to the Elbe and stays flat until km 20. The last kilometre to the Messe goes uphill again (source: hamburg-halbmarathon.de, elevation profile).
When is the 2027 Hamburg Half Marathon?: Not yet fixed. According to the organiser's FAQ, the 2027 date is not yet known (as of 4 October 2026).