PB victory for Sabrina Mockenhaupt in Frankfurt (© Victah Sailer)
A lot will be about Sabrina Mockenhaupt at Sunday’s Cologne Marathon. Just six weeks after the World Championships’ marathon in Berlin the 28-year-old German will run the classic distance again.
Organisers have registered a record total of more than 32,000 entries, but there are inline skaters and other events included. While 10,300 runners were registered for the marathon, the half marathon which has no elite field boosts around 15,000.
The Cologne Marathon is an IAAF Silver Label Road Race.
Mockenhaupt, who competes for the organising club of the race, recently caused a surprise by entering the marathon instead of the half marathon. In warm conditions in August she had placed 17th in the World Championships with 2:30:07, making her the number one German. Knowing that it is some risk to run a second marathon after such a short break the 28 year-old remains optimistic. As she explained in an interview with German athletics magazine ,Leichtathletik’ she had recovered very well after Berlin.
“I have decided to run in Cologne because after the World Championships I thought: This cannot really be it for this year.”
On Sunday Mockenhaupt even plans to target the twelve year-old course record, which Angelina Kanana (Kenya) established in 1997 with 2:27:27.
There is not much competition to be feared by the German, who had clocked her personal best of 2:26:22 when she took the Frankfurt Marathon in 2008. Running on home soil in Cologne it looks like the only challenge for Mockenhaupt may come from Rose Nyangacha. The 32 year-old Kenyan was second in Hamburg in 2007 with a personal best of 2:29:22. After giving birth she will run her first race since December 2007, when she finished seventh at the Singapore Marathon with 2:45:51.
In terms of the men’s race the organisers of the Cologne Marathon have announced the signings of three Kenyans who are expected to be in contention for victory.
The fastest in the field will be 31-year-old Thomas Chemitei who clocked 2:09:21 in Eindhoven in 2005. While he had been third in Cologne in 2008, this year he has so had to settle for sixth with 2:16:31 in Turin, Italy in the spring.
The other two signings have very similar personal bests. 27-year-old Samson Bungei won in Essen, Germany, this spring with 2:09:23, while the one-year-older Albert Matebor was fifth at the Frankfurt Marathon in 2007 with 2:09:33. This spring he placed tenth in Rome in 2:11:33.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
