by Alfonz Juck
Eliud Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele, Wilson Kipsang, Mark Milde (Race Director), photo by PhotoRun.net
BERLIN MARATHON NEWS
BERLIN (GER): Berlin Marathon already leads the ranking of marathons based on top 10 performances with 2:03:35 average. Second in this stat provided by Ken Nakamura is London (2:04:34) and third Dubai (2:04:36). But improvement is possible on the women side where Berlin is second with 2:19:55 average. Here the leader is London (2:18:26) and third place belongs to Dubai (2:20:05). In the average of five best marathons the Sunday co-favorite Wilson Kipsang leads with 2:03:45 but second Eliud Kipchoge (2:04:01) could attack his position. Kenenisa Bekele is 8th in this ranking with 2:05:18 average.
BERLIN (GER): The pace of 60:45 will be set for the lead group by Sammy Kitwara, Gideon Kipketer and Geoffrey Ronoh for the BMW Berlin Marathon world record attempt. Subsequent pacemakers have been asked to operate at 62:45, 64:00, 65:30 and 67:00 respectively, reports Alberto Stretti from the technical meeting.
BERLIN (GER): Race director of the BMW Berlin Marathon Mark Milde believes the world record of 2:02:57 could be beaten by half a minute in tomorrow’s race. He further told Telegraph Sport: “It depends much on the weather, but if the weather is OK – and we have the usual good weather that we’ve had in recent years in Berlin – I am quite confident that the record will go. We have recruited the pacemakers in a way that they can, on a perfect day, go out at world record pace. It’s about trying to get these runners into a mental place where they work together as long as possible and the competition element kicks in only at a later part. So when the pacemakers drop out with 10km to go, they don’t start looking around but try to keep up the race with the pace high.”
BERLIN (GER): Great Britain’s distance running great Mo Farah is among many athletes and running experts who believe the world marathon record will fall at Berlin Marathon. “I will fortunately have landed in the states in good time to watch the race. It’s possible (to break the world record)… I know Eliud can do it,” Farah told Daily Nation at the Abu Dhabi International as he headed off on holiday in USA with his family after a rewarding season.
