Venice, Italy - The Venice marathon was won on Sunday by  El Hassan Lahssini from France who ran his debut marathon in 2:11:01 and by Anne Jelagat from Kenya in a new PB of 2:30:17.

Lahssini was a very good track runner in the past with PBs of 3:38.88 in the 1500 metres, 7:32.13 in the 3000 metres (Monaco Golden League meeting 1999) and 13:04.32 in the 5000 metres (Milan, IAAF GP final 1996.

The Moroccan-born Frenchman decided to turn to the marathon last year after finishing sixth at the European Championships in Munich last year. “I was born in Temara (Morocco) in 1975 but moved to France in 1985. I began running at the age of six. My career began on the track with 3000 and 5000 metres. In my career I finished eighth in the 3000 metres in at the World Indoors Paris Bercy 1997 and seventh later that year at the World Championships in the 5000 metres (13:20:52).

“Turning from the track to the marathon was very tough at the beginning  but I am getting used to running the 42.195 km distance”, said Lahssini.
 
The fascinating but demanding course which crosses five towns from Stra, a few kilometres from Padua to the heart of Venice is not traditionally conducive to very fast times. The first half of the race was slow with a group of Kenyans in the leading pack. David Kipruto, the pacemaker David Cherui and Ibrahim Mitei ran the first 10 km run in 30:46 followed by Mexico’s Guiterrez Aguirre and El Hassan Lahssini and the pre-race favourites from Kenya Henry Cherono (Rome’s winner in 2001) and Paul Kanda five seconds behind.

Kipruto and Cherui mantained the lead at the half-marathon split (1:05:19) one second ahead of Mitei, Kanda, the Moroccan-born Italian Mostafà Errebah, Henry Cherono, Elijah Nyabuti and Kiprotich Kenei. Lahssini followed this group by clocking 1:05:21 at halfway.

After the 30 km clocked in 1:33:21 the top runners reached the “Ponte della Libertà” (Bridge of Freedom) linking Mestre to Venice. This 5 km section  is traditionally the most crucial part of the race where the battle for the win reaches its climax. Kanda and Lahssini increased the pace and broke away from the rest of the group when the famous Venice’s Piazza San Marco was on the horizon. Lahssini pulled away with five km to go and his attack proved to be decisive.

In the meantime the Italian Sergio Chiesa, who started slowly in the first half,  closed the gap on Kanda and Mitei and launched his attack on the Kenyan pair. The Frenchman reached the 40 km in 2:05:40 to secure a easy win when he entered in Venice. He crossed the finish line in 2:11:01 unchallanged. The final stretch which crosses the 13 characteristic Venice bridges was challenging for the struggling Mitei and Kanda who were overhauled by Sergio Chiesa, who finished second in 2:11:30, six seconds ahed of Ibrahim Mitei.

Anne Chelangat, coached by the Italian Renato Canova, lowered her PB from 2:31:10 set in Prague earlier this year to 2:30:17. She beat her compatriot Caroline Cheptonui (2:30:22) and the Italian Ornella Ferrara who ran 2:31:48 in her second marathon in just one month after finishing third in Berlin with 2:28:28 last month after giving birth to a daughter 14 months ago.

Ferrara, a former bronze medallist at the World Championships in Gothenburg in 1995, remained in contention for victory until the 21 km mark, clocked in 1:15:09, just one second behind Cheptonui and Jelagat but suffered from the effect of a very demanding running schedule, as she admitted in the post race press-conference. “After Cheptonui and Jelagat launched their attack I realized that it was not my day. At that point my objective was to finish the race. The tests I made after Berlin indicated that I was in good shape but probably I have not fully recovered from my effort in Berlin. It is demanding to cope with motherhood and athletics. I will try to pursue the goal represented by the Athens Olympics if the Italian Federation helps me to plan my next season. But I know that I need 2:26 to be competitive in Athens. Otherwise I will focus on another marathon in the spring without pressure to go for a fast time.”

A delighted Jelagat, mother of two children, began her career only three years ago at the age of 32 under the guidance of Renato Canova who predicts that 2:26 is within her reach. “I began very late and only two years ago after finishing second at the Udine half marathon in 2001 I realized that I had a future in the marathon. I started to work at a Communication Centre at the beginning of this year and this work took much of my time. This explains some disappointing results at the beginning of the season. When I arrived in Italy some months ago I was not in form. Canova helped me to prepare for this marathon in a very short period of time.”

Leading results of the 18th Venice marathon:
Men:
1 El Hassan Lahssini (France) 2:11:01
2 Sergio Chiesa (Italy) 2:11:30
3 Ibrahim Mitei (Kenya) 2:11:36
4 Paul Kanda (Kenya) 2:11:53
Women:
1 Anne Jelagat (Kenya) 2:30:17
2 Caroline Cheptonui (Kenya) 2:30:22
3 Ornella Ferrara (Italy) 2:31:48