Rhein-Ruhr-Marathon

The Rhein-Ruhr-Marathon is Duisburg's flagship road race, run since the early 1980s and now in its fifth decade as one of the Ruhr region's most established marathons. The 42.195 km course starts on Kruppstraße in the Sportpark Wedau and winds through the city center, along the Rhine riverbank, and through the industrial-heritage Landschaftspark Nord before finishing inside the Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena, where runners cross the line to a stadium crowd. The route is flat, fully closed to traffic, and officially measured by a licensed World Athletics/AIMS-DLV surveyor, making it a reliable course for a personal best or a Boston-qualifying time. Race day also includes a half marathon, a half-marathon relay, an ekiden team relay, inline-skating and handbike divisions, and a school marathon, drawing close to 10,000 total participants and roughly 50,000 spectators along the way. The 2026 edition, the 43rd running, was held under the title sponsorship of Schauinsland-Reisen and finished with a men's winning time of 2:28:06 and a women's winning time of 2:50:29; a group of runners from 41 nations also set a Guinness World Record for most nationalities finishing together. The 44th edition is confirmed for Sunday, May 2, 2027, still under Schauinsland-Reisen title sponsorship, with online registration already open (early-registration discount window running through August 31, 2026).