Press Release - Vienna City Marathon - 4/5/11

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 Strong Kenyans Will Chase Course Record and Give Haile a Run in Vienna

A group of strong Kenyans have been signed for the 28th edition of the 
Vienna City Marathon on 17th April. Among them is the former IAAF World 
Half Marathon Champion Paul Kirui. While the Kenyans are expected to target 
the 2:07:38 course record they will additionally give Haile Gebrselassie 
quite a run through the Austrian capital. Ethiopia's superstar will be 
competing in the half marathon and run a unique chase race. The elite 
marathon runners will get a head start and it will be Haile's aim to catch 
them before he finishes his half marathon. The time difference at the start 
has yet to be determined. More than 30,000 runners have already entered the 
various events of the Vienna City Marathon. Online entry is still available 
at: www.vienna-marathon.com

With a personal best of 2:06:44 Paul Kirui is one of the fastest runners 
ever entered into the Vienna City Marathon. The 31 year-old Kenyan had 
clocked this time back in 2006, when he was second at the Rotterdam 
Marathon. But since then Paul Kirui's fastest marathon time in each year 
was not slower than 2:08:23. Additionally the average time of his 10 
fastest marathons shows how consistent the Kenyan is in the marathon: it 
stands at 2:08:53.3 hours. He will be eager to improve this in Vienna. 

Paul Kirui's greatest success so far came in the half marathon, when he 
took the gold medal at the World Championships in 2004. His biggest 
marathon win was in Amsterdam, where he clocked 2:07:52 in 2008. Paul Kirui 
proved last year, that he still can run very fast in the marathon. In March 
he was third in Seoul with 2:07:35.

One of his strongest opponents will be Patrick Ivuti. The two-time silver 
medallist at the World Cross Country Championships (1999 and 2003) had run 
a very good marathon debut in Chicago, where he was second in 2005 with 
2:07:46. This still remains the personal best of the 32 year-old. But after 
a setback due to malaria in the winter of 2008 he came very close to this 
time, when he took the Prague Marathon in 2:07:48 in 2009. An excellent 
half marathon runner with four results inside one hour and a personal best 
of 59:27 minutes Patrick Ivuti will be eager to finally further improve in 
the marathon. Last year he was unlucky because a series of injuries 
prevented him from competing.

Isaac Macharia is another experienced marathon runner who will compete in 
the Vienna City Marathon. Actually his best result so far came in a race 
with Haile Gebrselassie. When the Ethiopian took the Dubai Marathon in 2008 
with 2:04:53 the Kenyan was second in 2:07:16. The two time Nagano Marathon 
champion (2005 and 2009) also has a fine half marathon best of 60:48 
minutes.

Joseph Ngeny and Wilson Kigen could also play a part when it comes to 
determining the Vienna City Marathon champion. Ngeny features a personal 
best of 2:08:10, which he ran when he finished third in Eindhoven in 2009, 
while Wilson Kigen's PB stands at 2:08:16. With this he was second in 
Frankfurt in 2008. 

If Nicholas Chelimo should be able to improve his personal best of 2:07:38 
on 17th April the Vienna City Marathon will definitely see a course record. 
By coincidence his PR exactly matches the course record of Kenya's reigning 
World Champion Abel Kirui, who had won the race in Vienna in 2008 and then 
took the gold at global stage a year later in Berlin. In the past four 
years 28 year-old Nicholas Chelimo has clocked sub 2:10 times consistently. 
2010 was his best year so far as a marathon runner. First the Kenyan took 
the Nagano Marathon in 2:10:24, then he improved his personal best by eight 
seconds to those 2:07:38 with a second place in Eindhoven and finally he 
won the Honolulu Marathon in December (2:15:18).
 
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