12th Ford Cologne Marathon report + results, 05.10.2008

October 10, 2008

Rather bad conditions (rain and squally wind) was one of the biggest problems in the 2008 edition of the Cologne marathon. Nevertheless there were some great performances and if there would have been better weather even better times would have been possible.

Men’s marathon: Even if some of the elite athletes had big problems in the narrow curves of the course (after 19km couple of runners in the lead pack fell down) there was a new course record. Sammy Kurgat (KEN) improved the old mark by 21 seconds and just missed a sub 2:10, clocking 2:10:01 for a comfortable win. Defending champion Daniel Too (KEN) could not repeat last year’s victory but secured 2nd place with a new PR of 2:10:37 ahead of Thomas Chemitei (KEN, 2:11:17). Fastest German was Mike Mariathasan, who had to run alone from the very beginning of the race. Until km 30 he was on course 2:22/2:23 but then the weather took its toll and finally he came home in 2:25:49 (11th overall!). After all it was a reasonable comeback for Mike, even if he could not improve his PR of 2:23:52 (Hamburg 2005). 2nd German was Ansgar Varnhagen in 14th overall (02:30:16h) with Thorsten Kwekkeboom in 3rd (02:34:40h, 18th overall)

Women’s marathon: German Luminita Zaituc and Ethiopian Robe Tula Guta battled it out in the women’s race. The two were running together for around 40 kilometers, when the Ethiopian broke away and won in a time of 2:29:36. Luminita Zaituc, who made the pace for pretty much the whole race to secure a good time, had to settle in 2nd but still ran a 2:29:57. With this time the experienced woman who just turned 40 has a realistic chance to be on the marathon team for next year’s World Championships in Berlin.

Halfmarathon races: The big story of the halfmarathon was Sabrina Mockenhaupt. The 10.000m-Olympian 2008 used the halfmarathon in Cologne as the last tune up for the Frankfurt Marathon. Untouched by the partly very strong winds she improved her PR by 1:44min to come home in a superb 1:08:51. Only 3 men were faster than her in overall classification.

Lead results were as follows:

marathon men:
1 Kurgat, Sammy (KEN) M30 02:10:03
2 Too, Daniel (KEN) M30 02:10:37
3 Chemitei, Thomas (KEN) M30 02:11:20
4 Kemboi, Joel (KEN) MHK 02:11:57
5 Bungei Kipto, Samson (KEN) MHK 02:13:25
6 Ndiritu, Daniel (KEN) MHK 02:16:55
7 Beyene, Beraki (ERI) MHK 02:17:37
8 Gebretinsae, Tesfahiwet (ERI) MHK 02:17:39
9 Kipchirchir, Vincent (KEN) MHK 02:18:44
10 Kiptoo, Joel (KEN) MHK 02:22:39
11 Mariathasan, Mike (GER) MHK LAZ Puma Troisdorf/Siegburg 02:25:52
12 Mutai, Joash (KEN) MHK 02:27:48
13 Boki, Jumanne (TAN) MHK 02:27:57
14 Varnhagen, Ansgar (GER) MHK LG Olympia Dortmund 02:30:16
15 Mr Julian Baker, Julian (GBR) M40 LES CROUPIERS 02:30:20
16 Kiplagat Kosgei, James (KEN) MHK 02:31:07
17 Coniglio, Lorenzo (BEL) M35 UAC-Dilavile 02:34:40
18 Kwekkeboom, Thorsten (GER) M35 LG Alpen 02:34:40
19 Rugut, Julius (KEN) M40 02:35:23
20 Dirckx, Luc (BEL) M35 AC Lyra 02:36:01
21 Aymanns, Theo (GER) M40 VfB Alemannia Pfalzdorf 02:36:25
22 Losch, Stefan (GER) M40 TUSEM Essen 02:36:45
23 Hämmerling, Jan Oliver (GER) M35 Rollstuhl-Sportclub Hamburg 02:37:35
24 Baehr, Thomas (GER) M40 SC Hagen-Wildewiese 02:39:21
25 Niehörster, Oliver (GER) MHK Steinheim 02:40:19

marathon women:
1 Tola Guta, Robe (ETH) WHK 02:29:36
2 Zaituc, Luminita (GER) W40 LG Braunschweig 02:29:58
3 Ashebir Gebreezgi, Alem (ETH) WHK 02:39:06
4 Korsten, Ira (GER) WHK Ford Bank 02:44:53
5 Kiprono, Prisca (KEN) WHK 02:51:24
6 Dr. Hawker, Elisabeth (GER) W30 TECOSIM GmbH 02:52:27
7 Back, Friederike (GER) W30 Würzburg 02:57:18
8 Groß, Martina (GER) W45 MTV Kronberg 03:00:42
9 Lennartz, Birgit (GER) W40 LLG St. Augustin 03:06:33
10 Barborseck, Sandra (GER) W35 TV 03 Breitenbach 03:06:37
11 Klement, Sandra (GER) W35 SC Neukirchen 03:07:17
12 Lorenz, Madeleine (GER) WHK Annaberg-Burkholz 03:09:15
13 Van Nieuwenhoven, Liesbeth (NED) W45 TSV-Herleshausen 03:10:15
14 Ryf, Simone (SUI) W30 TV Länggasse 03:11:03
15 Pignatelli, Tiziana (ITA) W35 Südtiroler Laufverein 03:12:30
16 Braun, Marion Maria (GER) W50 SV Germania Eicher… 03:14:41
17 Palazzo, Nadia (GER) W35 Duisburg 03:14:47
18 Dr. Robben-Bathe, Petra (GER) W40 SV Kirchzarten 03:15:05
19 Rasbach, Dagmar (GER) W35 LA TUS Mayen 03:16:24
20 Müller, Anne-Katrin (GER) W35 Rechtenbach 03:16:31
21 Flammang, Daniele (LUX) W35 Trispeed Mamer 03:16:35
22 Rausch, Claudia (GER) W30 SV schlau.com Saar 05 03:17:39
23 Merz, Monika (GER) W40 TSV Kirchdorf 03:17:42
24 Beisenherz, Susanne (GER) W35 Königswinter 03:17:53
25 Porten-Sturm, Baerbel (GER) W40 LA TUS Mayen 03:18:39

halfmarathon men:
1 Akbas, Mehmet Ali (TUR) MHK Istanbul 01:08:08
2 May, Michael (GER) MHK TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen 01:08:28
3 Dreier, Tobias (GER) MHK Puma AG 01:08:49
4 Kuhn, Jan Mattis (GER) MHK LC Diabü Eschenburg 01:09:13
5 Gatzweiler, Johannes (GER) MHK LAZ Puma Troisdorf 01:10:25
6 Hövelmann, Philipp (GER) MHK LG Olympia Dortmund 01:10:38
7 Emmerich, Roland (GER) M35 LG ASV DSHS Köln 01:10:56
8 Meißner, Pascal (GER) MHK TV REFRATH 01:11:12
9 Mucha, Bastian (GER) MHK LAZ Puma Troisdorf 01:11:29
10 Benz, Ulrich (GER) M35 Le Brandenkopf 01:11:53
11 Jegodtka, Matthias (GER) M30 ASC Rosellen Neuss 01:12:13
12 Fabianowski, Dominik (GER) MJA LAZ Puma Troisdorf 01:12:26
13 Assmann, Ingo (GER) MHK SC Melle 03 01:12:30
14 Fricke, Marc (GER) M30 Non-Stop-Ultra 01:12:39
15 Müller, Stefan (SUI) MHK TV Reussbühl LA 01:12:42
16 McLeod, Andrew (AUS) M30 TG Viktoria Augsburg 01:12:55
17 Schneider, Torsten (GER) M35 LAZ Puma Troisdorf 01:13:11
18 Strankmann, Oliver (GER) MHK EuroluxAg- Triathlon 01:13:24
19 Wolfram, Lutz (GER) M50 LG Weder Pinneberg 01:13:55
20 Osten, Christian (GER) MHK Brühler TV 1879 01:14:00

halfmarathon women:
1 Mockenhaupt Sabrina, Mocki (GER) WHK 01:08:51
2 Bienstein, Heike (GER) WHK LGO Dortmund 01:17:02
3 Heuck, Ingalena (GER) WHK Puma AG 01:18:05
4 Meyer, Marlies (GER) W40 Puma AG / Bunert Running Team 01:21:44
5 Molz, Manuela (GER) WHK TSG Heilbronn 01:22:07
6 Viebahn, Christl (GER) W30 LG Gummersbach 01:23:08
7 Jäger, Ronja (GER) WJA Pulheimer SC 01:25:06
8 Ruikes, Marloes (NED) W35 Running Athletic Point 01:25:12
9 Kenty, Daniela (GER) WHK Heidelberg 01:25:55
10 Krämer, Sabrina (GER) WHK LC Duisburg 01:26:19

full results of the race koeln.mikatiming.de