Press Release - The Berlin Half Marathon - 3/10/15

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

              Vattenfall Berlin Half Marathon on March 29: 
 Cheroben and Kipkemoi Going for a Course Record on the Streets of Berlin.

The 35th edition of the Vattenfall BERLIN HALF MARATHON will see a clash of 
world-class Kenyan runners Abraham Cheroben and Kenneth Kipkemoi. Both hope 
to become the new course record holder of Germany's biggest and most 
prestigious half marathon race. However the mark they target is a very good 
one: It was fellow-Kenyan Patrick Makau, who clocked 58:56 minutes back in 
2007. While Cheroben and Kipkemoi will opt for a pace that is fast enough 
for a sub 59 minutes' finish another record will be targeted on Sunday: 
Germany's Arne Gabius hopes to break the 22 year-old German best. It was 
back in 1993, when Carsten Eich took the Vattenfall BERLIN HALF MARATHON 
with 60:34 - a result which at that time also was a European record.

A year ago Abraham Cheroben caused quite a surprise when he followed big 
favourite Leonard Komon of Kenya all the way in the Vattenfall BERLIN HALF 
MARATHON. Beaten by just a step at the end Cheroben was given the same time 
as Komon, who won with 59:14. Both clocked the third fastest time ever run 
in the history of the event.

When Abraham Cheroben will return to the German capital he will be much 
more in the focus before the start than in 2014. The 22 year-old showed a 
couple of more great performances last year. Little more than a month after 
the half marathon he returned to Berlin and took the 25 k race in a 
world-class time of 1:11:47. Only three runners have ever run faster than 
him at this distance. Cheroben then further improved his half marathon PB 
when he won in Valencia in October with 58:48. He moved up to fifth place 
in the list of the fastest half marathon runners ever. It will be 
interesting to see if he can run such a time on the fast Berlin course as 
well.

Cheroben's strongest opponent will probably be a runner he knows well: 
Fellow-Kenyan Kenneth Kipkemoi was second behind Cheroben in the Berlin 25 
k and the Valencia race last year. The times he ran at these races - 
1:12:32 and 59:01 - are outstanding as well. Additionally he was tenth in 
the highly competitive World Half Marathon Championships in 2014. 

There is a third runner in the elite field who features a sub one hour 
personal best: Ethiopian Hunegnaw Mesfin was second in the Rome Ostia race 
in 2014 with 59:39. Kenyans Richard Mengich, who has a PB of 60:11 and took 
third in Berlin last year, Sylas Kimutai Cheboge (PB: 60:14) and David 
Kogei (60:50) belong to the favourites for Sunday's race as well.

The women´s race: Isabella Andersson vs Kenya

The women's race looks less spectacular than the men's event. Three Kenyans 
who feature personal bests between 70 and 71 minutes are challenging a 
former Kenyan runner who now is running for Sweden. Isabella Andersson 
switched nationalities after she married Lars Andersson of Sweden in 2006. 
She won the Stockholm Marathon five times between 2008 and 2013, clocked an 
impressive 2:23:41 Swedish record at the 2011 Dubai Marathon and is coming 
to Berlin with a 1:10:02 half marathon PB under her belt. She will be 
facing three Kenyan women in the Berlin race: Vicoty Chepkemok ran 70:09 in 
the Rome Ostia half marathon last year while Elizeba Cherono took the Dutch 
Venlo event with 70:15. Rebecca Chesire features a PB of 70:45. She showed 
good form in January's Dubai Marathon, where she achieved a personal record 
of 2:25:22.

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