Press Release - Zurich Marathon - 4/21/08

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

               Shouts of Joy and New Personal Best Times

Though the weather and conditions were perfect, the record set for the best 
time at the Zurich Marathon was not beaten. However, many personal record 
times were achieved by the participants and expressed with shouts of joy in 
the finish area. The winner of the 42'195 km long race was Oleg Kulkov from 
Russia, followed by Tadelech Birra from Ethiopia. The new Swiss champions 
are Tarcis Ancay in the men's category (14th place overall) and Maya 
Neuenschwander in the women's category (7th place overall). 

The poster athletes that the public most wanted to see were missing in this 
year's race: Viktor Röthlin, the Swiss marathon star and most recognized 
athlete of the Zurich Marathon races (with the exception of 2006) did not 
participate in this year's race, after having won the Tokyo marathon race 
in mid-February. Mirja Jenni, who wanted to finish the Zurich Marathon 
within the time limit to qualify her to participate in the 2008 Olympics, 
had to abandon the race after 27 km.   

However, the 2008 Zurich Marathon still turned out to be a first-class race 
with a great atmosphere. 30 year old Russian Oleg Kulkov and 33 year old 
Tadelech Birra from Ethiopia ran well in the balmy weather. Kulkov 
celebrated his first major victory and beat his own personal record by more 
than four minutes with a finish time of 2:11:15. Birra won her second major 
city marathon with a finish time of 2:32:08. She was also the winner of the 
Hannover Marathon in 2003, and she missed her own personal record set 8 
years ago by a mere 24 seconds. 

Tschopp qualifies for Olympic games

The best Swiss runners made less headlines. Tarcis Ancey from Ayer in the 
canton of Valais won his first marathon race with a finish time of 2:22:32. 
The fastest Swiss woman was Maya Neuenschwander from Hinterkappelen who 
finished the race in 2:40:41. The silver medal went to Marcel Tschopp from 
Winterthur (in the men's category) and to Patricia Morcelli from Cham (in 
the women's category), third place went to Joseph Bago from Petit-Lancy 
(men's) and Nelly Glauser Figueiredo from Boncourt (women's). Tschopp 
achieved his Olympic dream: holding dual citizenship (Switzerland and 
Liechtenstein), his finishing time of 2:24:10 qualifies him to participate 
in the Olympic games for Liechtenstein.  

Out of 4780 participating athletes, 4588 (3777 men and 811 women) finished 
the race within the required time. This is the lowest number since the 
first Zurich Marathon race in 2003, with 80 less athletes finishing in 2008 
than in 2003, 57 less than last year and 1174 less than in the record year 
of 2004. 

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