Press Release - Hanover Marathon - 5/4/12

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                       Course Records Targeted, 
Experienced Leah Malot Meets Katrin Dörre-Heining's Daugther Katharina

Course records will be the target in both the men's and the women's race of 
the TUI Hanover Marathon, which will be staged on Sunday. A group of 
Kenyans and Ethiopians are the ones capable to break the current records of 
2:08:52 and 2:31:19. A total of 14,221 runners are expected to take part in 
the various running events of the race. The TUI Hanover Marathon is an IAAF 
Bronze Label Race.

In the men's race three athletes have been entered with personal bests of 
sub 2:10. It is Ethiopia's Megersa Bacha Chikuala who features the fastest 
time of the elite runners. The 27 year-old has clocked 2:08:55 when he took 
third in last year's Turin Marathon. In that race he just hold off the 
challenge of Peter Kurui. The 24 year-old Kenyan crossed the line just one 
second behind with a personal best of 2:08:56 for fourth place. Kurui has 
the advantage that he knows the fast Hanover course. A year ago he was 
second in this race with 2:09:35.

While Chikuala and Kurui could be involved in another duel there are a 
couple of more athletes who are in with a chance. Kenya's Amos Mutai also 
ran well in Hanover a year ago. He was third at the TUI Hanover Marathon in 
2011 with 2:10:07. His personal best stands at 2:09:35. Jospeh Kiptum has 
recently shown very promising form, when he clocked a personal best in the 
Berlin half marathon with 60:26 minutes. The Kenyan should be able to 
improve his personal best of 2:10:07 on Sunday. Abdisa Sori Bedada 
(Ethiopia/PB: 2:10:26) and Johnstone Chepkwony (Kenya/2:11:33) could also 
do well. Organisers have been unlucky with a couple of late withdrawals. 
Among them was Kenya's Olympic Steeplechase Champion from Sydney 2000, 
Reuben Kosgei.

It would be a surprise if the course record would not fall in the women's 
race provided weather conditions will be fine as forecasted. The big 
favourite comes from Ethiopia: Eyerusalem Kuma has a personal best of 
2:24:55. The 31 year-old has placed second in Amsterdam last year, when she 
achieved her personal best. But she has already run a marathon this year, 
when she was seventh in Tokyo with 2:28:36. So it remains to be seen how 
fresh Kuma will be in the final stages.

Another woman who wants to follow a 73:00 minutes half marathon pace is 
Leah Malot. The 39 year-old Kenyan will run her sixth marathon on Sunday 
and so far has a personal best of 2:29:17. "My training has gone well and I 
really want to run sub 2:30 again. It would be nice if I could break my 
personal best on Sunday," said Leah Malot, who had done very well in Cross 
Country many years ago. She was sixth in the World Cross Country 
Championships in 2000. 

A German athlete to watch is Katharina Heinig. The 22 year-old daughter of 
former world-class runner Katrin Dörre, who had won the Olympic marathon 
bronze medal in 1988 (the year before Katharina was born) and won the 
London Marathon three times, had been unlucky a year ago. With five 
kilometres to go in the TUI Marathon Hanover she developed a stress 
fracture in her foot. "But I desperately wanted to finish. So I carried on 
despite the pain," recalls Katharina Heinig, who then finished in a 
personal best of 2:42:10. It took her many months to recover from the 
injury and there was no chance to run an autumn marathon. "In September I 
could start running again, but I still had to be careful. Then in January 
we went to Spain for training and all was going well there. Three weeks ago 
we came back from high altitude training in Kenya. It was very motivating 
for me to see all the Kenyan world-class runners training in Iten", says 
Katharina Heinig, who is coached by her father Wolfgang.

On Sunday Katharina Heinig will run her third marathon. "My aim is to 
clearly improve in Hannover and I want to run well under 2:40," said 
Katharina Heinig, who will get support from both her parents along the 
course. A result around 2:35 would be a good and realistic improvement for 
Katharina Heinig.

More information about the TUI Marathon Hannover is available online at: 
www.marathon-hannover.de  

 
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