Matthew Koech on his way to victory in the Berlin 25K (© Victah Sailer)
Berlin, GermanyBerlin’s traditional 25km race, which had been invented by the French allied forces back in 1981 in West Berlin and carried the name ‘25 km de Berlin’, is on its way back to former glory. For many years in the 1980s it was the Berlin 25 k, which set the standards in German road running.
In terms of the two winning times this edition of the Big 25 Berlin seen today has surpassed all previous 25 k races – not only in Berlin but worldwide. Kenyans Matthew Koech and Peninah Arusei took advantage of the perfect weather conditions and clocked world leads on the fast course through Germany’s capital. The 25-year-old Koech ran 1:13:24, which is the seventh fastest ever run at the distance. Arusei became the first runner to achieve a third victory in this race. The 30-year-old, who had taken the race in 2006 and 2008, clocked a course record of 1:22:31, which was the fourth fastest ever.
Koech on WR pace early on – men’s race
For a long time it looked as if Koech might break the World and course records set by his fellow countryman Paul Kosgei in 2004 (1:12:45) in Berlin. He reached the 10k point in 28:19 together with Fred Kosgei and World Marathon champion Luke Kibet (all Kenya). After 15k (42:50) Koech was 20 seconds ahead of Kosgei, who later finished second in 1:14:35 while Kibet (1:15:31) took third. While these split times were good for a result well below 1:12, in the final part of the race, when the course led back to the Olympic Stadium and was slightly uphill, Koech slowed. Suddenly his kilometre splits were a couple of seconds above three minutes. In the end he missed the World record by 39 seconds.
“May be we started a bit too fast, but the weather was really very good,” Koech said. “Nonetheless I am very happy with my race. Now I want to run another fast half marathon. My aim is to clock a sub-59 minute time and qualify for the World Half Marathon Championships.”
Koech had only known that he would run the Big 25 Berlin on Thursday. After Paul Tergat had to cancel his start, he was signed as a replacement for the great Kenyan.
“I was training well and had good form, so it was not a big problem to jump in,” said Koech, who belongs to the same management group as Tergat (Dr. Rosa).
“Matthew did really well here today, that was a strong race. Especially if you take into account that he did not know about the 25 k until Thursday,” said Tergat, who started the race and held the finishing tape.
Strong pace from gun – women’s race
The women’s race also was an extremely fast one right from the start. Arusei took the lead before the 10 k mark, which she past in a blistering 31:18. At that stage she was 12 seconds ahead of Caroline Cheptonui (Kenya) and well on course for the first sub 1:20 performance by a woman. “This split time of 31:18 is my best ever 10k time on the road. It was a bit too fast,” Arusei said.
But similar to Koech, Arusei slowed predictably in the final stages. “But there were many spectators along the course. They cheered and gave me energy,” said the Kenyan, who missed Mizuki Noguchi’s (Japan) World record of 1:22:13 by 18 seconds. “It is a pity, because if I would have known that it was that close I could have broken it. So I will come back next year to give it another try,” said Arusei, who smashed her course record from last year by more than 90 seconds (1:24:10).
Furtuna Zegergish (Eritrea/1:22:57) and Caroline Cheptonui (Kenya/1:23:43) took second and third, beating the former course record as well. Magdaline Mukunzi (Kenya) was fourth with 1:25:05.
“I will now concentrate on some track training because I would like to come back to Berlin for the World Championships in August and run the 10,000 metres here,” said Arusei, who is also targeting the World Half Marathon Championships later in the year. “Next year I probably run my Marathon debut.”
Compared to recent years the Big 25 Berlin also made big progress regarding the number of fun runners: 9871 entries from 45 nations were registered for Germany’s oldest city road race, which also included a 10k race and a 5x5 k relay.
“We are very happy with this development. With today’s event we have managed to bring the race back to its former glory, when it was organised by the French allied forces in West Berlin,” said Race Director Gerhard Janetzky.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
