by Larry Eder
TUI MARATHON HANOVER ON SUNDAY
Course records targeted,
experienced Leah Malot
meets Katrin
Dörre-Heinig’s daughter Katharina
Course records will be the target in both the men’s
and the women’s race of the TUI Hanover Marathon, which will be staged
on Sunday. A group of Kenyans and Ethiopians are the ones capable to
break the current records of 2:08:52 and 2:31:19. A total of 14,221
runners are expected to take part in the various running events of the
race. The TUI Hanover Marathon is an IAAF Bronze Label Race.
In the men’s race three athletes have been entered with
personal bests of sub 2:10. It is Ethiopia’s Megersa Bacha Chikuala who
features the fastest time of the elite runners. The 27 year-old has
clocked 2:08:55 when he took third in last year’s Turin Marathon. In
that race he just hold off the challenge of Peter Kurui. The 24 year-old
Kenyan crossed the line just one second behind with a personal best of
2:08:56 for fourth place. Kurui has the advantage that he knows the fast
Hanover course. A year ago he was second in this race with 2:09:35.
While Chikuala and Kurui could be involved in another duel
there are a couple of more athletes who are in with a chance. Kenya’s
Amos Mutai also ran well in Hanover a year ago. He was third at the TUI
Hanover Marathon in 2011 with 2:10:07. His personal best stands at
2:09:35. Jospeh Kiptum has recently shown very promising form, when he
clocked a personal best in the Berlin half marathon with 60:26 minutes.
The Kenyan should be able to improve his personal best of 2:10:07 on
Sunday. Abdisa Sori Bedada (Ethiopia/PB: 2:10:26) and Johnstone
Chepkwony (Kenya/2:11:33) could also do well. Organisers have been
unlucky with a couple of late withdrawals. Among them was Kenya’s
Olympic Steeplechase Champion from Sydney 2000, Reuben Kosgei.
It would be a surprise if the course record would not fall
in the women’s race provided weather conditions will be fine as
forecasted. The big favourite comes from Ethiopia: Eyerusalem Kuma has a
personal best of 2:24:55. The 31 year-old has placed second in Amsterdam
last year, when she achieved her personal best. But she has already run
a marathon this year, when she was seventh in Tokyo with 2:28:36. So it
remains to be seen how fresh Kuma will be in the final stages.
Another woman who wants to follow a 73:00 minutes half
marathon pace is Leah Malot. The 39 year-old Kenyan will run her sixth
marathon on Sunday and so far has a personal best of 2:29:17. “My
training has gone well and I really want to run sub 2:30 again. It would
be nice if I could break my personal best on Sunday,” said Leah Malot,
who had done very well in Cross Country many years ago. She was sixth in
the World Cross Country Championships in 2000.
A German athlete to watch
is Katharina Heinig. The 22 year-old daughter of former world-class
runner Katrin Dörre, who had won the Olympic marathon bronze medal in
1988 (the year before Katharina was born) and won the London Marathon
three times, had been unlucky a year ago. With five kilometres to go in
the TUI Marathon Hanover she developed a stress fracture in her foot.
“But I desperately wanted to finish. So I carried on despite the pain,”
recalls Katharina Heinig, who then finished in a personal best of
2:42:10. It took her many months to recover from the injury and there
was no chance to run an autumn marathon. “In September I could start
running again, but I still had to be careful. Then in January we went to
Spain for training and all was going well there. Three weeks ago we came
back from high altitude training in Kenya. It was very motivating for me
to see all the Kenyan world-class runners training in Iten”, says
Katharina Heinig, who is coached by her father Wolfgang.
On Sunday Katharina Heinig will run her third marathon. “My
aim is to clearly improve in Hannover and I want to run well under
2:40,” said Katharina Heinig, who will get support from both her parents
along the course. A result around 2:35 would be a good and realistic
improvement for Katharina Heinig.
More information about the TUI Marathon Hannover is
available online at: www.marathon-hannover.de
Please note: You may use the attached photo for
online purposes, showing Katharina and Katrin Heinig together with Leah
Malot. Credit essential: www.photorun.net
Service by: www.race-news-service.com
