The Hamburg marathon that will be held on Sunday, April 26th (start at 9 AM) will be broadcasted live on German TV channel NDR. An internet stream is also available online at the webpage of NDR. An alternative link is here.
In a real unique marathon in Vienna, Kenya’s Gilbert Kipruto Kirwa and Austria’s Andrea Mayr were the winners of an interesting race. The special thing about the race was, that the whole elite field consisted of marathon debutants only!
23 year-old Kirwa took the race with a fine 2:08:21h ahead of Ethiopia’s Dereje Debele Tulu (2:09:08h) and Joseph Maregu (Kenya/ 2:09:25h). Despite the fact that the elite field consisted of rookies only, 4 men went sub 2:10. Never before in the history of the Vienna City marathon the results were so good.
Austrian hope and former steeplechaser Günther Weidlinger, ran an encouraging debut in Vienna. But in the end he was unlucky, because he missed the 23-year old Austrian record by just 17 seconds. Weidlinger finished in ninth with 2:12:39. “I was well in time for the record for a long time, but the final two kilometres really killed me. I could not run any more. To finish ninth is okay for me, but I am disappointed to have missed the record,” was his comment.
Surprisingly the womens race was throughoutly dominated by Andrea Mayr. The two time winner of the World Mountain Running Trophy also set a new Austrian record, clocking a 2:30:43h. Not bad for a debut!
Lead results were as follows:
marathon men:
1. Gilbert Kipruto Kirwa KEN 2:08:21
2. Dereje Debele Tulu ETH 2:09:08
3. Joseph Maregu KEN 2:08:25
4. Degefa Abebe Negewo ETH 2:09:52
5. Mohamed El-Hachimi MAR 2:10:24
6. Jafred Chirchir KEN 2:10:42
7. Getu Fekele ETH 2:11:42
8. Pedro Nimo Del-Oro ESP 2:12:10
9. Günther Weidlinger AUT 2:12:39
10. Maswai Kiptanui KEN 2:13:25
marathon women:
1. Andrea Mayr AUT 2:30:43
2. Derbe-Godana Gebissa ETH 2:31:31
3. Hayato-Zeineba Hasso ETH 2:34:01
4. Tiruwork Mekonnen ETH 2:34:07
5. Olga Kalenarova-Ochal UKR 2:35:25
6. Esther Muthuku KEN 2.39:22
The Vienna City Marathon that will be held on Sunday, April 19th (start at 9 AM) will be streamed live on the internet. The broadcast should be available from 8.40 AM (Central European Summer Time). via this link. An alternative link is here.
After Viktor Röthlin aborted his altitude training camp in Kenya and went back to Switzerland, he now has the bitter diagnosis: Pulmonary embolism in the right pulmonary lobe. Furthermore the doctors diagnosed a pneumonia and an edema in the chest region. It is suspected that the reason was a thrombosis in the right pelvis vein that Röthlin might have suffered during his return flight from Ras Al Khaima (where he dropped out of a halfmarathon after stomach problems) to Kenya. During the 5-hours flight he was “sandwiched” in four-man row.
For at least 4 weeks the World Championships Bronce medalist is not allowed to do any activity. For the next half year Röthlin’s blood will be diluted and the pneumonia will be treated with antibiotica. If the recovery goes well, the Swissman can imagine to participate in a autumn marathon.
On Saturday, March 14, Viktor Röthlin returned to Switzerland from his altitude training camp in Kenya because of a suspicion of pneumonia. He will now undergo complete medical testing in Switzerland. Röthlin had to reduce the training already on the Tuesday before, because of an inflammation in his foot. Surprisingly on Thursday some symptoms of pneumonia appeared and the 34-year old immediately decided to fly back to Europe. Originally it was planned, that Röthlin would have stayed in Kenya until March 20 to prepare for the London marathon 2009.
Britain’s marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe is out of next months London marathon (26.4.09) after breaking a toe in training. The three time winner of the London race suffered the injury on the right second toe while altitude training in the United States (New Mexico). It is believed that the injury may have been forced by a ganglion, a swelling that forms around the tendons or joints, that might have changed her foot dynamics.
Radcliffe stated that she is considering surgery to get 100% fit as soon as physically possible and to prevent future problems.
Radcliffe now shifts the focus on the World Championship marathon in Berlin this year. With Germany’s Irina Mikitenko, Romanian Constantina Dita, Catherine Ndereba of Kenya and many other superb runners the London marathon will nevertheless provide a race to watch. The women’s elite field consists of the following runners:
Irina Mikitenko GER 2:19:19
Catherine Ndereba KEN 2:18:47
Zhou Chunxiu CHN 2:19:51
Berhane Adere ETH 2:20:42
Lyudmila Petrova RUS 2:21:29
Constantina Dita ROM 2:21:30
Svetlana Zakharova RUS 2:21:31
Gete Wami ETH 2:21:34
Yuri Kano JPN 2.24.27
Tomo Morimoto JPN 2.24.33
Mara Yamauchi GBR 2:25:03
Martha Komu KEN 2:25:33
Mika Okunaga JPN 2.27.52
Kirsten Melkevik Otterbu NOR 2:29:12
Inga Abitova RUS 2:33:55
Kate O’Neill USA 2:34:04
Liliya Shobukhova RUS Debut
Jo Pavey GBR Debut
Ethiopian long distance star Haile Gebrselassieis is still hungry and wants to brake 3 more world records this year. Only few days after his marathon in Dubai (2:05:29 in torrent rain) he published his race plan for 2009. After a halfmarathon in Den Haag (14.3.) and a 1-hour attempt in Hengelo (1.5.), Haile might also go for another marathon world record during the 36th Berlin marathon (20.09.09)
Reigning Olympic marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru (KEN) set the plan for the upcoming post-olympic season. Following a halfmarathon in Granollers (Spain) he will run one more halfmarathon – most probably in March – before taking on the extremely competitive field of the London marathon (April 20th).
Wanjiru is not going to run the world championships marathon in Berlin but will run the autumn marathon in the same city on September 20th. In the 36th real,- Berlin marathon he is planning to attack the current world record of Haile Gebrselassie (2:03:59) which was set in Berlin 2008.
On September 29 2008 Austrian distance-star Günther Weidlinger started his preparation for his marathon debut, which he will give in the Austrian capital on April 19 in 2009. The former steeplechaser wants to establish himself in the European marathon elite and aims for the Austrian marathon record of 2:12:22. The Austrian national record which was set also in Vienna is held by Gerhard Hartmann and already lasts for 22 years. At the time being, Weidlinger already has the national records in the 1.500 m (3:34,69 Min), 3.000 m (indoor/7:44,19), 3.000m steeple (8:10,83), 5.000 m (13:13,44), 10.000 m (27:36,46), 10 km road (28:10) and in the halfmarathon (61:42).
Günther Weidlinger started his preparation with a 6-week altitude training camp in Falls Creek/AUS. Down under he also competed in a 15k road race and took 5th-place in a race that was won by Haile Gebrselassie.
Several media reported that the Ethiopian distance miracle Kenenisa Bekele will be sidelined for the next months because of a stress fracture on his ankle. The injury occurred in the preparation for the 15Km road running world record attempt in Njimegen, Netherlands in Mid-November. Eventually he took 3rd place in the race and could not stand on his two feet after crossing the finish line.
The 26-year old Olympic 5.000 and 10.000m was told to completely rest for 2 months and then start light training. Consequently he will run no indoor races and even during the Cross-Country season he might not be able to defend his World Champ title.
Even if he had problems with his achilles heel in 2002 that forced him out of competition in that season, it is the first major injury and it remains to be seen how good he will cope with this incidence. Nevertheless, it shows that also the East Africans are no running machines and are working on their very limit.