News26 Apr 2010


Kigen and Cherop take Hamburg Marathon titles

FacebookTwitterEmail

Sharon Cherop takes the Hamburg Marathon title with a 2:28:38 personal best (© Hoch Zwei / Hamburg Marathon)

Wilfred Kigen and Sharon Cherop took the 25th edition of the Möbel Kraft Hamburg Marathon on Sunday. The two Kenyans clocked winning times of 2:09:22 and 2:28:38 respectively. The jubilee edition of Germany’s biggest spring Marathon had 15,174 runners.

After a fast 10 k split time of 30:02 the pace settled in the men’s race. Five runners were still in the leading group after 30Km. Then Urige Arado Buta (Norway) and Beyene Zerea Beraki (Eritrea) increased the pace and opened a gap. But Kigen managed to get back to them, overtook Beraki and had something left. On the long finishing straight he kicked perfectly and passed Buta to win in 2:09:22. Buta clocked a personal best of 2:09:27 while the next three runners achieved sub-2:11 times: Beraki ran 2:10:06, followed by Kenyans Justus Kiprono (2:10:16) and Matthew Kibowen (2:10:57).

In the women’s race Cherop started building a considerable gap after 20Km and was never challenged. The Kenyan clocked a personal best of 2:28:38.

“It was hard running alone for so long, but I concentrated well,” she said. Eshetu Degefa (Ethiopia/2:29:48) and Beata Naigambo (Namibia/2:33:00) took second and third.

Kenyans dominate at Würzburg 10Km

On the same day one of Germany’s best quality 10Km races was staged in Würzburg. Kenyan athletes dominated the 'Würzburger Residenzlauf' held on a loop course in the centre of the Bavarian city. Kenyans took the first nine places in both the men’s and women’s competition. Jacob Cheshari was the winner with 27:56. Titus Mbishei (28:16) took second and Charles Maina was third in 28:28.

Grace Momanyi dominated the women’s event, clocking a fine 31:34. Jane Gakunyi (33:52) and Purity Macharia (34:01) were well beaten in second and third place.

Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
Pages related to this article
DisciplinesCompetitions
Loading...