FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thrilling Volkswagen Prague Marathon Sees Second Best Time in Race History
as Well as Premiere for Footballer, Nedvìd.
Prague/ A mixture of victory and failure for the top favourites,
celebrities and ordinary folk alike seeing their dreams come to life,
record participation with more than nine thousand runners, all set against
the breathtaking backdrop of Prague's Old Town. You could experience all
this and more at this year's 18th ever Volkswagen Prague Marathon. Emerging
as the all-out winner, was Ethiopian Deressa Chimsa scooping up the second
best race time ever for Prague at 2:06:25. "I believed in myself. I knew
that I'd done enough training, that I could deliver a quality performance.
I helped to push away from the pace maker in the leading group and then
just went all out to win. I'm pleased", he said.
In stark contrast to this, Elite runner, Lydia Cheromei dropped out at the
38th km. She set herself a riveting pace at the start and for a while was
running ahead all alone. However when fellow Kenyan runner, Agnes Kiprop
caught her up, she realised she couldn't keep her pace and had to drop out.
"She just told me, try it alone, I'm having problems, try it", commented
the winner. She passed the finish line with a time of 2:25:41.
When it came to the men, there was no shortage of Kenyan runners in the
list of top results - Stephen Tum was satisfied finishing up second in his
second ever marathon race. The same could be said for Philemon Limo,
completing his first ever marathon third place "I knew that running a
marathon isn't easy. I've learnt a lot. I need to carry on training more
and more" .
Kenyan runner Julius Arile Lomerinyang came out sixth, an impressive result
for a runner who only six years ago swapped hi AK47 machine gun and a place
in the military guerrilla for a pair of running shoes and training camp in
America. Film-makers have also been busy shooting him for a documentary
while he's been in Prague.
The second woman to cross the finish line was Flomena Chepchirchir from
Kenyan who was followed by Ethiopian wonder, Meseret Debele.
When it came to the enthusiasm of Czech spectators keen to witness Czech
Championship success, as well as see which Czechs would be heading to the
London Games, Jan Kreisinger emerged as a success. At thirteenth place in
2:16:26, he's managed to qualify with just three seconds to spare!
"Amazing, amazing, amazing", he rejoiced at the finish line.
39-year old former football superstar, Pavel Nedvìd completed his first
ever marathon in 3:50:02. "In the final five kilometres, I was able to
accelerate even more, I didn't experience any kind of crisis throughout, I
enjoyed myself", he said while showing off blisters dripping with blood.
Straight after the race he took off on a plane back to Turin to celebrate
the Championships for his team, Juventus where he's currently working as a
consultant to the Club President.
Volkswagen Prague Marathon 2012: Men: 1. Chimsa (Ethiopia) 2:06:25, 2. Tum
2:07:16, 3. P. Limo 2:09:25, 4. Bowen 2:10:05, 5. Kinyanjui, 6. Lomeriny
(all from Kenya) 2:12:12,... 13. Kreisinger (Czech Republic) 2:16:26.
Women: 1. Kiprop 2:25:41, 2. Chepchirchir (both from Kenya) 2:26:50, 3.
Debele (Ethiopia) 2:27:15,... 9. Pastorová (Czech Republic) 2:39:42.
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