Berlin, Germany - Patrick Ivuti, the winner of the 2007 Chicago Marathon, will be among the favourites when Berlin’s traditional 25 km race begins a new era this Sunday.

As in the past the 25 km race remains a high-class affair. The 29-year-old Ivuti, who was fourth in the Olympic 10,000m final in 2000 and twice won a silver medal in the World Cross Country Championships, celebrated his biggest Marathon win last October. Ivuti took the Chicago Marathon, which is a World Marathon Majors (WMM) race. In unusually high temperatures he won the race after a sprint finish with 2:11:11. In a unique sprint finish he just edged out Morocco’s Jaouad Gharib by five hundredth of a second.

Ivuti has a marathon best of 2:07:46 while he clocked a world-class time of 59:27 for the Half Marathon in Rotterdam in 2007. Early in the year he had trained together with Marathon greats Martin Lel and Robert Cheruiyot. During the unrest in Kenya the group moved to Namibia for training. But during his built-up for the Boston Marathon Ivuti got malaria and then had to cancel his start. Now he is said to be fit again. The 25 k race in Berlin will be a crucial test for him regarding his next Marathon race, which is scheduled for 1 June in San Diego.

Kenyan dominance to continue?

Kenyans have won the 25 k race seven years in a row and since 2002 have taken at least the first three places. It would be a huge surprise if this series will not continue on Sunday.

Ivuti’s main rivals will be fellow Kenyans. Among them is Matthew Koech, who has the advantage of knowing the course. In very warm weather conditions Koech was third last year with a time of 1:15:48. Another with a good chance of winning should be Elijah Keitany. He impressed with a third place in the Berlin Half Marathon a month ago, clocking a world-class time of 60:10 minutes. In that race Keitany improved his personal best by more than two minutes.

The women’s race will see another battle between defending champion Flomena Chepchirchir and Peninah Arusei (both Kenya). Arusei had won the race two years ago, but then finished second in 2007 despite a personal best of 1:26:17. But Chepchirchir clocked 1:25:38. Arusei had shown impressive form earlier this year, when she won the 10k in Paderborn in March setting a personal best of 31:42. Then she took the Berlin Half Marathon in 68:22 minutes.

But there could well be a third Kenyan woman involved in the battle for victory on Sunday: Jemima Jelagat was fourth in last year’s Frankfurt Marathon with 2:29:41. On the fast Berlin course, where Paul Kosgei ran the present World record of 1:12:45 in 2004, the women will go for the course record of 1:24:29. It was Susan Chepkemei who clocked this time back in 1999.

New organisation signals new era

In its 28th edition the race will be staged by new organisers, ‘Berlin Runs’, for the first time. Gerhard Janetzky, the Meeting Director of Berlin’s AF Golden League Meeting DKB ISTAF, and Christoph Kopp, a well-known figure in international road racing for decades, are in charge of the race now.

Adding all running events, well over 7000 athletes are expected to take part in Sunday’s race which will start in front of the Olympic Stadium and finish inside on the blue track. Figures are up despite the decision of the organisers to drop the inline skating event. ‘Berlin Runs’ wants to focus on the runners again.

When the ‘25 km de Berlin’ was initiated by the French allied forces in West Berlin on 3rd May 1981, the race was a trendsetter. It had been the first big city road race in Germany. Other races like the marathons in Frankfurt and Berlin then followed swiftly. For years the ‘25 km de Berlin’ was the biggest German road race with well over 10,000 runners. ‘Berlin Runs’ intends to guide the race back to former glory.

Jörg Wenig for the IAAF