Press Release - London Marathon - 12/16/08

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

               "For A Long Time I Have Not Seen Such A 
          Strong Field As In Next Year's Flora London Marathon" 

"For a long time I have not seen such a strong field as in the next Flora 
London Marathon," said Irina Mikitenko after checking the women's start 
list for the race on 26th April. Organisers of the Flora London Marathon 
had announced their elite field recently. So far nine women have been 
signed with personal bests sub 2:22. Among them are world record holder 
Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain), Olympic Champion Constantina Dita 
(Romania) and World Champion Catherine Ndereba (Kenya). And of course Irina 
Mikitenko will be back to defend her title. In the meantime she got good 
news concerning two more national records that were ratified. 

In the real,- Berlin Marathon, which she won with a German best of 2:19:19, 
she broke two more national marks at 25 k and 30 k. On 28th September she 
passed 25 k in 1:23:07 and 30 k in 1:39:34. Knowing about the possibility 
of records Berlin's Race Director Mark Milde had placed a full set of 
timekeepers at these points. That way the split times were hand-timed as 
well and it was possible to ratify them. Additionally the 25 and 30 k 
points of the course fulfil the requirements regarding the international 
rules for records. While it is the first time the German federation lists a 
30 k national best Kathrin Weßel (Ullrich) had been the record holder for 
the 25 k. In 1992 she won the Berlin 25 k race with 1:24:41.

"Already at this stage I am really looking forward to my next marathon, 
which I will run in London," Irina Mikitenko said. "With such a strong 
field you can not predict anything. It will be really interesting to see 
how this race will develop. I will prepare as good as possible and hope 
that I don't get any setbacks with injuries. Then we will see what will be 
possible." Irina Mikitenko, who has won the World Marathon Majors (WMM) 
Series 2007-2008 and leads the next series as well, has started training at 
the beginning of November. She will compete at the Trier New Year's Eve 
Race in Germany on 31st December (5 k). A first training camp is then 
scheduled for two weeks in Spain (Andalusia) in January.

More information is available online at: www.irina-mikitenko.com

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