Julio Rey wins the 2006 Conergy Marathon Hamburg (© Bongarts / Getty Images)
Julio Rey of Spain won the Conergy Marathon Hamburg for the fourth time in his career and improved the course and Spanish record to 2:06:52 yesterday (23). It is the first time that the Hamburg marathon, which after Berlin’s race is Germany’s second biggest marathon, has witnessed a sub 2:07 result.
In the best quality race of Hamburg’s marathon history Ethiopia’s Robe Tola won the women’s race. The 20-year-old tied the course record of Katrin Dörre-Heinig by clocking 2:24:35.
MEN
Rey’s winning time marked a significant improvement on his previous personal best and course record of 2:07:27 which he had set when winning the Hamburg race in 2003, the year in which he also took the World Championship silver medal. The Spaniard also won in Hamburg in 2001 and 2005.
“There was a superb atmosphere along the route. That really helped me achieve this result“, the 34-year-old Rey. The previous Spanish record of 2:07:23 had stood to Fabián Roncero since 1999 (Rotterdam 18.04.).
A couple of kilometres before the finish Rey was able to break away from Robert Cheboror, the 2004 Amsterdam winner (2:06:23 PB), although he suffered stomach problems in the final part of the race before crossing in 2:06:52.
Cheboror, 27, who was eleventh in last summer’s World Championships, eventually came home in 2:07:37 for second place, far ahead of another Kenyan James Rotich, who was third in 2:09:25.
WOMEN
In the women’s race there was a much bigger winning margin. Tola, whose previous personal best had been 2:29:30 when coming third last autumn in Frankfurt, was a dominant winner. Behind her course record, came a distant second placed Rose Cheruiyot of Kenya who clocked 2:27:09, while Irina Permitina of Russia took third with 2:27:35.
Edith Masai, who had won the Berlin Half Marathon three weeks ago in a promising 67:16 minutes, had a disappointing day. The defending champion from Kenya finished seventh with 2:30:01.
Former World and Olympic 10,000m champion Fernanda Ribeiro of Portugal was some what happier. Though she finished only one place in front of Masai, the 36-year-old made a major impact on her personal best reducing it to 2:29:48. Her previous fastest had been 2:37:04 which she ran in 2002 when coming 10th in the Tokyo Marathon.
About 18,000 runners competed in the Hamburg Marathon.
Jörg Wenig and Chris Turner for the IAAF.
RESULTS
MEN
1 Rey, Julio (ESP) 2:06:52
2 Cheboror, Robert (KEN) 2:07:37
3 Rotich, James (KEN) 2:09:25
4 Kigen, Wilfred (KEN) 2:10:00
5 Kiprop, Fred Kiptum (KEN) 2:11:04
6 Martinez, Jose Manuel (ESP) 2:11:06
7 Goffi, Danilo (ITA) 2:11:09
8 Tesfaye, Dereje (ETH) 2:11:10
WOMEN
1 Tola, Robe (ETH) 2:24:35
2 Cheruiyot, Rose (KEN) 2:27:09
3 Permitina, Irina (RUS) 2:27:35
4 Kimurya, Emily (KEN) 2:28:42
5 Chemweno, Elizabeth (KEN) 02:28:55
6 Ribeiro, Fernanda (POR) 2:29:48
7 Masai, Edith (KEN) 2:30:01
8 Semenova, Zinaida (RUS) 2:31:27
