Joshua Chelanga won the marathon in a Rotterdam heatwave. The Kenyan coped best with unusually warm conditions with a temperature of above 80 degrees at the end to win in 2:08:21. But towards the end of the race the 34-year-old also struggled with the heat. Under normal conditions or with an earlier start Chelanga would have certainly run at least a minute faster. The fastest woman was the Japanese Hiromi Ominami, who, considering the conditions, achieved an equally good time of 2:26:36. Taking into account all competitors, around 20,000 runners took part in the Rotterdam race.

Chelanga, whose best time was 2:07:05 for third place in Berlin in 2004, won against a top-class field. Four of his rivals on the start line had gone under 2:07, and another four as well as Chelanga had run under 2:08. Sixteen runners went through halfway in 63:34, which promised a fast time. But the weather had the final say in a race which began at 11:00 a.m.—by halfway the temperature was close to 80 degrees, with no breeze.

One after another they lost contact with the lead group. After they had gone through 25K in 1:15:41, the number of runners was reduced to six over the next few kilometers. At 30K (1:30.30) it was down to three men: Chelanga, who is a member of the training group of world record holder Paul Tergat, ran a stride behind his compatriot Solomon Bushendich and the Japanese Takayuki Matsumiya, the latter proving surprisingly strong.

The Japanese was the first to drop back, and shortly afterwards Bushendich, the winner in Amsterdam in 2006, fell apart. While Chelanga won by a clear margin, Matsumiya in second place fought his way to a personal best of 2:10:04. William Kipsang (Kenya) was third in 2:11:04. The 2002 European champion Janne Holmen produced a convincing run and finished eighth in 2:14:20.

The Rotterdam organizers tend to concentrate almost entirely on the men for the elite field, and this was also the case this year. The 31-year-old Ominami, led by a pacemaker, crossed the line in 2:26:36 to win by a clear margin. In 2004 she finished second in the Berlin marathon in 2:23:26.