Press Release - Vienna City Marathon - 4/11/13

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

             Vienna's Half Marathon on Sunday, Then Chase for      
            Master World Records on Haile Gebrselassie's Agenda

Haile Gebrselassie will continue his career with the intention of chasing 
world records in the master division. The Ethiopian superstar announced 
this during today's press conference in Vienna. On Sunday the 39 year-old 
will run the OMV Champions Race in the Austrian capital. It will be his 
first race this year. The half marathon will be staged parallel to the 
Vienna City Marathon. In total a record number of 40,957 runners have 
entered the event. The Vienna City Marathon is an IAAF Gold Label Road 
Race.

Regarding a possible first master world record Vienna's half marathon comes 
four days too early for Haile Gebrselassie. The two-time Olympic 10,000 m 
champion and former marathon world record holder (2:03:59), who established 
20 official and seven unofficial world records during his unique career, 
will turn 40 next Thursday. But the record can wait. "Vienna is a wonderful 
city. I am looking forward to the race, which has a great atmosphere. For 
me the Vienna City Marathon is special," said Haile Gebrselassie, who spent 
some time on Friday morning with the Austrian President. Heinz Fischer 
invited the runner and Race Director Wolfgang Konrad for breakfast into the 
Wiener Hofburg.

On Sunday Haile Gebrselassie will go for a hattrick in the half marathon. 
There are only very few road races in the world, where he has competed 
three times in a row. Besides Vienna the marathons of Berlin and Dubai plus 
the Manchester 10 k race are among them. "I am really fit now. I have no 
injuries and my training went well. Of course at my age you are getting 
problems sometimes. But I am fine now," said Haile Gebrselassie, joking 
during the press conference: "By the way, I am 20 now. Yes, two times 10 – 
not two times 20!" 

"For me a simple day without running is not a good day," said Haile 
Gebrselassie. "Of course I could now say I will just run for fun. But I 
need a motivation for running. I want to prove what I can achieve. And I 
want to know how my condition is and what is possible for me. That is the 
reason why I still train very seriously. I will continue and I want to 
chase the world records for the age categories of 40, 45 and 50."

Regarding Sunday's race Haile Gebrselassie said: "My goal is to run a good 
time. It is not only about running against the others but also against 
myself." He will be competing against four elite runners in the OMV 
Champions Race. The strongest challenge is likely to come from Kenya's 
Hosea Kipkemboi (61:48) and from young Ethiopian debutant Mekuant Ayenew. 

Asked if he still feels capable of running a sub one hour time in the half 
marathon Haile Gebrselassie answered: "Yes, why not. Sunday will be a test 
for me to see where I stand. There is always a difference between training 
and competition."  Haile Gebrselassie also revealed that he intends to run 
a marathon later this year. "I want to run a good marathon time. I have not 
decided which races I will compete in after Vienna." But he said: "I will 
speak with Mark Milde (the Race Director of the Berlin Marathon)".

"For me running is still number one in my life. But my business meanwhile 
is of the same importance because I am responsible for a lot of people who 
work for me," explained Haile Gebrselassie, who refused the suggestion that 
he could become a coach. "No, I would not be a good coach. I tend to train 
too much. So my athletes would all be overtrained and would not do well in 
competition. For now this is no option. But who knows, may be in the 
distant future."

Elite runners for the OMV Champions Race

Hail    Gebrselassie ETH 58:55
Hosea   Kipkemboi    KEN 61:48
Daniel  Kosgei       KEN 64:24 / 2:08:45
Richard Chepkwony    KEN Debut / 2:12:02
Mekuant Ayenew       ETH Debut / 2:12:19

The OMV Champions Race starts at 8.57 am on Sunday (local time) and will be 
shown live on the internet at www.vienna-marathon.com

For more information please visit: www.vienna-marathon.com.

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