Press Release - Vienna City Marathon - 4/2/13

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

       Rosaria Console Returns to Vienna, Facing Tough Opposition and 
         Hoping to Add Another Italian Chapter to the Race's History

Italian women have played significant roles in the history of the Vienna 
City Marathon, which will celebrate its 30th edition on 14th April. They 
have won the race three times and the course record still belongs to Maura 
Viceconte, who had run 2:23:47 back in 2000. So it is no surprise that 
there is an Italian name on the list of the elite women, which were 
announced today by the organisers. Rosaria Console is one of four athletes 
with personal bests of sub 2:27. The 33 year-old returns to the scene where 
she triumphed nine years ago. Console will hope to add another successful 
Italian chapter to the history of Austria's most prestigious road race. But 
she will meet tough opposition in Vienna. Including other running events a 
record number of more than 40,000 athletes have registered for the 
anniversary race. The Vienna City Marathon is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.

Elite runners for the men's events had been announced earlier. Haile 
Gebrselassie will return for the half marathon, which will be staged 
parallel to the marathon race. The Ethiopian superstar hopes to win the OMV 
Champions Race for the third time in a row. The marathon will see the 
return of the defending champion as well: Henry Sugut (Kenya) will face 
tough opposition in Vienna. In 2012 he became the first runner to break 
2:07 on Austrian soil with a time of 2:06:58.

In contrast the women's course record has not been broken in the past 
twelve editions of the Vienna City Marathon. Back in 2000 Maura Viceconte 
became the first Italian to win this race, clocking 2:23:47. Two more 
Italian winners followed a few years later: First Lucilla Andreucci took 
the race with 2:35:32 in 2003, then Rosaria Console ran 2:29:22 in what 
probably still ranks as her biggest marathon win. Her personal best is just 
one and a half years old, which shows that the 33 year-old is still going 
strong. It was in Berlin in 2011 where she ran 2:26:10. 

Rosaria Console is the third fastest runner entered for the women's elite 
field of the Vienna City Marathon. Two Ethiopians have superior times: 
Kebebush Haile won in Shanghai in 2011 with 2:24:09. However last year did 
not go that well for her. She was fifth in the Düsseldorf Marathon with 
2:29:02. In contrast Meskerem Assefa had a fine debut more recently: She 
was third in Houston this January with 2:25:17 despite poor weather 
conditions. Her switch to the marathon was quite a surprise. The 27 
year-old had been a 1,500 m runner and had not run further in competition 
than 10 k. Meskerem Assefa was in the Olympic 1,500 m semi final last year 
in London. At this distance she had won a silver medal at the African 
Championships in 2008. The fourth runner with a personal best of sub 2:27 
comes from Kenya: Emily Samoei won the Barcelona Marathon a year ago with 
2:26:52, improving by almost eight minutes.

A staggering improvement like the one from Emily Samoei could well happen 
on Vienna's roads on 14th April as well. Filomena Cheyech Daniel has a 
personal best of 2.34:13. But the 30 year-old Kenyan comes to Vienna after 
winning the Rome Ostia Half Marathon recently in a world-class time of 
67:39 minutes. This indicates that she is a serious contender for victory 
in Vienna. If she can transform her half marathon form to the full distance 
she might even be able to break Maura Viceconte's course record.

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