FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wilfred Kigen Wants to Continue His German Success Story in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf, GER --- Sunday's finish of the METRO Group Marathon
Düsseldorf will be right next to the river Rhine. It is there, where
Wilfred Kigen intends to continue a remarkable streak of successes
in Germany. So far the 34 year-old has won the Frankfurt Marathon three
times, achieving a hattrick there (2004 to 2007). Additionally he had twice
placed second in Hamburg, where he clocked his personal best of 2:07:33 in
2007. "In Düsseldorf I want to run a low 2:09 and break the course record
of 2:09:47," said Wilfred Kigen and added: "For me it is important to show
that I am back in form since I had to drop out of the New York Marathon
last autumn because of an Achilles tendon injury."
After 24k Wilfred Kigen had to stop in November 2008 in New York. "I was
still in the leading group at that stage, but I could not carry on." He
then could not run for one month and resumed training in December. Since
then Wilfred Kigen, who is managed by Dutch Gerard van de Veen, prepared
for the METRO Group Marathon Düsseldorf.
Originally Wilfred Kigen comes from Eldoret, the centre of Kenyan
distance running. As a pupil he ran to school, covering 20 kilometres per
day for eight years. That 'training' was probably the basis for his future
career. "Without running to school I might never have become a runner,"
said Wilfred Kigen, who only started doing competitions in his final year
at school. "I was not bad, but I did not win every race." It was another
Kenyan world-class runner, who had a decisive influence on Wilfred Kigen's
career: Wilson Boit Kipketer is a good friend of him. He had won the World
Championships' gold medal at the steeplechase in 1997 and then broke the
world record shortly after that with 7:59.08 minutes.
Wilfred Kigen has three brothers and three sisters. With the money
earned by running he also supports his siblings and his mother. His father
had been a farmer, but he died in a car accident in 1995. When Wilfred
became a world-class marathon runner the family benefited a lot. Today he
has five children himself. His wife works as a teacher and even speaks some
German. "When my manager Gerard calls they speak German," says Wilfred
Kigen, who now lives in Ngong not far from Nairobi. "I can train very well
there, though it is just in an altitude of 1,800 metres, which is not as
high as Eldoret or Iten." In Ngong he regularly meets former world record
holder Paul Tergat, who lives there as well. But they train in different
groups.
More information is available online at: www.metrogroup-marathon.de
###
|
