Frankfurt am Main Sports & Outdoors

This years race will take place on 14 September 2003 and starts at 5pm Everyone can join the race. I think you can also sign up on the day of the race. After I missed it last year I definitely want to run this time.
It is a 5 km run as well as a 5 km walk.

Equipment: Don't forget your running shoes :-)))

This year I ran the Frankfurt Marathon for the first time. It's a fantastic event, really well organized and with a great atmosphere.Lots of bands playing along the route, many spectators celebrating their own party with beer or champagne, and because we ran on Halloween, there were even some ghosts who eerily cheered us on.

The course is mostly flat, first zig-zagging through the centre of Frankfurt, then onto the other side of the river Main, before it goes back across the bridge in Schwanheim.

I thought I knew Frankfurt pretty well, but I was surprised to see the Frauenhof in Frankfurt Niederrad. Niederrad for me had been an office suburb, but during the marathon I was able to see the old part. The Frauenhof is a baroque building from 18th century, which was first used as a factory, but later as a cloister. We passed right through the main gate and the large yard.
Schwanheim is another one of Frankfurt's suburbs, which still keeps its village atmosphere.

That's the good part of being a slow runner, I get to see many things right and left on the course, which are only a blur for the fast runners. I'm not that slow of a runner though, that I take a camera, so there are no pictures taken by me.

The final meters are run on a red carpet through the finish line, very impressive (and most probably the only time in my life I'll have a red carpet for me). On the other hand I suppose after 42 km every runner loves to see the finish line, red carpet or not.

Equipment: Good running shoes are a must, and don't wear long tights. I guarantee, after about 10/15 km you'll be warm.

4 more images

People flying in to Frankfurt from other parts of the world often ask me what I suggest they could do here during a brief visit, and the first thing I always recommend is that after sitting cramped up in a plane for many hours they should get out and have some exercise by cycling, jogging, walking, or in-line skating along the left (south) bank of the Main River.

The regional cycling routes M and R3 lead right through here along the left side of the Main River, that is the south side or Sachsenhausen side, also known as "dribbdebach" in the local dialect, as opposed to "hibbdebach" which is the right/north side where all the big buildings are.

This (left) side of the river is also known as the Museumsufer or Museum Bank, because many of Frankfurt's major museums are located here.

Second photo: The city of Frankfurt has been fixing up the river bank very nicely in the past few years. On this side (which is the left / south bank) you can now cycle from Offenbach to Schwanheim without stopping, and have great views all along the way. The tallest-looking buildings in this photo are, from left to right, Westendstraße 1, Silver Tower, Gallileo, Skyper, Eurotower and Commerzbank Tower. For details and photos of the individual buildings, please have a look at the Frankfurt Skyline Countdown on my Land Hessen page.

Third photo: Sunbathers on one of the new grassy areas on the left bank. The suspension bridge off to the right is a pedestrian and cycling bridge called the Holbeinsteg, which leads directly from the city center to the Städel art museum.

Fourth photo: Does anyone know what these things are called?

Fifth photo: Cyclist on the Untermainbrücke (Lower Main Bridge).

Update November 2010: Thanks to VT member alza (Lou) for pointing me to an article about the sports equipment shown in the fourth photo.

It turns out that these things the guy has strapped to his feet and legs have numerous names including Adjustable Stilts, Flying Jumpers, Powerisers, Powerskips, Velocity Stilts, Flyjumpers, 7 League Boots, SkyRunner, Pro-Jumps and Powerbocks.

They were invented in the 1990s by a German named Alexander Bock, who has been awarded patents on them both in Europe (2003) and in the United States (2004).

This is one of four outdoor swimming pools in the Nidda Valley in Frankfurt am Main.

It's a large, pleasant place with a selection of sunny and shady areas.

Admission is EUR 3.50 for adults, but that goes down to EUR 1.70 after six o'clock (evening price). They close at eight.

Update: The Eschersheim outdoor swimming pool re-opened in the spring of 2010 after being closed for a year and rebuilt from scratch because the old pool had been losing too much water. The new pool looks really nice. New photos to follow shortly.

If you thought the only mysteries in Frankfurt were those of banks or insurance offices, no, that's not true.
Each year on the first of May a hill keeps growing. In the course of the next year it shrinks again, only to start growing again the next May day.Twice so far I have experienced this phenomenon.
The village of Nieder-Erlenbach organises a 10km and a 5km run each year on May day. The 10km consists of three laps up and down a hill.
Running the first lap, the hill is just that - a hill. It's during the second lap I first noticed this strange phenomenon. Running up, the hill is longer, is steeper, but while I was still wondering about this I had reached the top and was on my way down again.
But on the third lap there was no mistaking: The hill had grown into a full mountain, at least twice as long and three times as steep as before. Isn't that strange??

Only people who take part in the 10 km run can experience this, as the 5km does only one lap.

If you don't believe me - well, see you next year in Nieder-Erlenbach for the 10km.

Equipment: Good shoes and a sense of wonder.

OK so not strictly in Frankfurt but, if Eintracht have an away game and you fancy watching a football match Kickers Offenbach is your solution. Just a 15 minute ride on the S-Bahn to Offenbach Süd station then follow the crowds up the hill to Bieberer Berg stadion. We saw a DFB cup 1st round game against 1FC Köln from the 1Bundesliga.and consicering that Kickers have only just been promoted to 2 Bundesliga a 3-1 home win was a great result for them. At €8.50 for a terrace team it's cheaper than watching my local team in the UK, and they play in a standard many leagues below.

A trip out to the Waldstadion to watch Galaxy defeat Barcelona 15 - 13 on a freezing cold evening. A very contentios penalty descision took the Galaxy within field goal range with just a few seconds on the clock, their German kicker made no mistake to send the fans home happy. Felt a little sorry for the Dragons, they looked the better team to me and other results this season tend to agree. Maybe the two will meet again in the Worldbowl, time will tell.

Sadly the Frankfurt Galaxy and the NFL Europe are no more, 2007 was the last season.

The Commerzbank-Arena stands on the site of its great predecessor – the legendary Frankfurt Waldstadion.52 300 seats.It is the home of Eintracht Frankfurt of the German Bundesliga.Easy to access from the main train station in Frankfurt.