The then Oberbürgermeister Josef Krings personally fired the starting pistol for this first race on 18 September 1981, in the Sportpark Wedau .
With 385 competitors making it to the finish, it admittedly lagged behind Frankfurt and the Berlin Marathon of one week later, which each notched up over 3,000 entrants.
While the half-marathon course branches off here in a southern direction towards the Dellviertel, the marathon course leads to the Inner Harbor and then via Kasslerfeld and the Ruhr as far as Ruhrort.
The Brücke der Solidarität takes it back over the Rhein into Hochfeld, where at the 28 km mark, it meets the half-marathon course coming in from the North.
Shortly after this, the course turns to the South and leads via Wanheimerort, Buchholz and Huckingen as far as its southernmost point and then via Großenbaum and Wedau to the finish in the MSV-Arena.