FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Vienna City Marathon on Sunday:
Sugut and Feleke Lead Field of 13 Sub 2:10 Runners
With 13 men featuring personal bests of sub 2:10 the 31st Vienna City
Marathon will see its best elite field in the history of the race.
Regarding this mark the only spring marathon that surpasses Vienna will be
the Boston Marathon on 21st April. Among those athletes there will be the
defending champion and three time winner Henry Sugut of Kenya and Getu
Feleke. With a personal best of 2:04:50 the Ethiopian is the fastest runner
ever entered into the Vienna City Marathon. Sugut is the course record
holder with 2:06:58. Including shorter running event staged on Sunday
organisers registered a record total of around 42,000 athletes for the 31st
edition, which is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.
A live stream of the race will be shown on www.vienna-marathon.com on
Sunday. Additionally there will be English live web reporting available.
The race starts at 9 am Central European Time.
For Henry Sugut Vienna is already some sort of second home. He won the race
in 2010, 2012 and 2013. The 28 year-old established the present course
record of 2:06:58 two years ago. This is also his personal best. "Yes, you
could say that Vienna is almost my living room," he replied during the
press conference. "It is a big motivation to have the chance to win the
race for the fourth time. I want to make history in Austria," said Sugut,
who could become the only runner in the history of the race to achieve four
victories.
"My training has gone very well and I am ready. I think I am able to break
my personal best on Sunday. The weather forecast sounds ideal for me," said
Sugut. Overcast skies and temperatures between 13 and 16 Celsius with
little wind are forecasted. Sugut lives in Eldoret but he does most of his
training in Kaptabet. "Among my training partners is Geoffrey Kipsang. The
fact that he won the World Half Marathon Championships recently is a good
sign and a motivation for me. We help each other in training," explained
Sugut.
"For me the most diffcilut part during the race is always when the
pacemakers drop out," said Sugut. Half way pace is planned for 63:00
minutes and pacemakers are supposed to continue until the 30 k mark. "It
then depends on how my body feels. If it is possible I will attack and try
to run away."
Asked about the long standing rivalry between Kenyan and Ethiopian distance
runners Sugut explained: "Generally we are friends. But at a certain stage
during the race everone becomes an enemy. We will support each other. But
from the 30 k mark onwards the fun is over!" Ethiopia's Getu Feleke agreed
with this view. The toughest challenge for Sugut might well come from him
on Sunday:
Feleke's marathon career started in Vienna five years ago. In a unique
debutants' only race he finished seventh with 2:11:47. "For me that was a
good race for a start. I had no knowledge about the marathon before," said
Feleke, who significantly improved in the following years. In April 2012 he
was second in Rotterdam with 2:04:50. "I was not fast enough on the final
two kilometres, otherwise I could have won in Rotterdam," said Feleke, who
runs up to 280 kilometres per week in training in Addis Abeba. Coached by
Getaneh Tessema among his training partners is Tsegaye Kebede, who will run
in London on Sunday. A year ago Feleke took another second place in
Rotterdam. In warm weather conditions he finished with 2:06:45. He might
have to run faster to take victory in Vienna on Sunday.
Main contenders for the Vienna City Marathon:
Getu Feleke ETH 2:04:50
Philip Kimutai KEN 2:06:07
Henry Sugut KEN 2:06:58
John Kiprotich KEN 2:07:08
Alfred Kering KEN 2:07:11
Moses Kigen KEN 2:07:45
Duncan Koech KEN 2:07:53
Geoffrey Ndungu KEN 2:08:35
Ryo Yamamoto JPN 2:08:44
Maswai Kiptanui KEN 2:08:53
Oleksandr Sitkovskyy UKR 2:09:14
Felix Kiprotich KEN 2:09:43
Aleksey Reunkov RUS 2:09:54
Wilfred Kirwa Kigen KEN no mark
For more information please visit: www.vienna-marathon.com
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