Course record falls in Dresden

Phaustin Baha Sulle is back with a win. Running a course record of 2:13:03, the 26 year-old from Tanzania was the highlight of the 10th edition of the Morgenpost Dresden Marathon. There was a surprise in the women’s race, which was won by 23-year-old Remalda Kergyte (Lithuania) in 2:38:48.

Altogether 7017 athletes took part in the jubilee race, which had almost ideal weather conditions. The wind was disturbing in some parts of the race though. More than 50,000 spectators lined the loop course through the picturesque Dresden city centre and along the river Elbe.

MEN

The race started at a good pace, and the leading group was on schedule for a course record throughout the race. The mark they chased was 2:15:26 by Kenya’s Joseph Talam from 2006. The leading group of four runners – among them two pacemakers – reached the half way mark in 65:21 minutes. After the last pacemaker, Simon Kasimili (Kenya), dropped out at 25km (1:17:05) a duel between Phaustin Baha Sulle and Pharis Kimani (Kenya) developed.

In that part of the race, when Sulle had an advantage of a couple of metres on Kimani for a short time, it looked as if both could finish in times in the region of 2:10 and 2:11. But after the 30k mark (1:32:30) the pace dropped significantly. When Sulle, who had been second in the World Half Marathon Championships back in 2000, was able to slightly increase the speed again at 35km this was the decisive move. This time the gap was too big for Kimani to come back. But the Kenyan held on for second and a personal best of 2:14:40 in his second marathon. Vasil Remshchuk (Ukraine) took third in 2:17:27.

“I am happy with my result. There was some wind on the course which made it difficult,” said Sulle, who has a personal best of 2:10:08 from 2004 in Dortmund. In recent years he had a number of injuries that hampered his performances.

“In 2007 I could not run at all. I was only able to do some light training back in Tanzania because I had a joint problem in my hip,” said Sulle, “but now I am feeling better and better. And I am optimistic for the future. I would like to run the Dubai Marathon in January and it would be my aim there to go for a time between 2:06 and 2:07.”

WOMEN

The women’s favourite Fabiola John of Tanzania had a big lead early in the race. The 23-year-old, who had been second in Edinburgh in 2005 and has a personal best of 2.34:41, passed the half way point in 1:17:40 in Dresden.

However, while she was well ahead of Remalda Kergyte (1:19:31) at that stage of the race, she started losing ground soon afterwards. In the end John had to be content with second place in 2:40:53.

“At 28 km I knew I would have a chance to catch her,” said Kergyte, although she was still about 60 seconds behind. At 36 kilometres the Lithuanian took the lead and went on for her biggest career win so far.

“I have now qualified for the World Championships in Berlin next year and intend to run there. These will be my first major championships,” said Kergyte, who had been second in Dresden in 2006 and 2007. “As a defending champion of course I also want to return to Dresden next year.”

Jörg Wenig for the IAAF