Haile Gebrselassie, seen here winning Berlin, will run Fukuoka. © Victah Sailer
Seven weeks after finishing second to Haile Gebrselassie with 2:10:43 hours at the Berlin Marathon, Gudisa Shentema (Ethiopia) won the Garda Trentino Half Marathon in Italy, clocking 64:08 minutes. Kenyan Peter Kiplagat was second (64:58), while Russia’s Sergej Zachepa took third (65:08). Elisa Desco (Italy) was the women’s winner in 1:14:58.
On a quiet weekend in international road running, the International Association of Athletics Federations, IAAF, honored the athletes of the year in Monte Carlo. These awards were handed to sprinter Asafa Powell (Jamaica) and 400-meter runner Sanya Richards (USA). In addition, Meseret Defar’s 5,000m world record of 14:24.53 minutes, set in June in New York, was voted the performance of the year. Morocco’s middle-distance legend Hicham El Guerrouj was given the Distinguished Career Award. El Guerrouj, who retired last year, still holds the world 1500m record (3:26.00). At the Olympics in 2004, he won the 1500m and the 5,000m gold medals. Ethiopian Woldemeskel Kostre was given the Coaches’ Award. He has coached almost all of Ethiopia’s world-class runners, among them Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele.
During the weekend, the Monaco Marathon was staged in Monte Carlo. The hilly course led the runners into Italy and France before returning to Monaco. Twenty-year-old Kenyan Wilfried Cheserek won the race in 2:17:21. Russia’s Andrey Bryzgalov (2:17:50) was second, while Jacob Kitur (Kenya) took third in 2:18:55. Women’s winner Lena Gavelin (Sweden) clocked 2:39:28. She was almost two minutes ahead of Olena Sannko (Ukraine/2:41:26), while Kristina Kuta (Poland/2:45:38) came in third.
Gebrselassie Confirms Participation at Fukuoka Marathon
Meanwhile, back in Ethiopia, Haile Gebrselassie announced that he will run another marathon just ten weeks after his victory at the Berlin Marathon. The Ethiopian officially announced his participation at the Fukuoka Marathon, to be held on December 3.
Including London in April, it will be his third marathon of the year. Marathon runners of his class usually run only two marathons per year. Taking this into account, the explanation given by Gebrselassie to an Ethiopian correspondent of the IAAF’s Web site is stunning: “The longer the breaks between marathons, the harder it is to come back in shape,” he said. Gebrselassie doesn’t have any record plans for Fukuoka. The goal for the 33-year-old simply is to win the race.
Apart from a race as a teenager in Addis Abeba, the Berlin Marathon was his fourth marathon. He improved his personal best to 2:05:56, but missed the world record of his rival Paul Tergat (Kenya/2:04:55) again.
Gebrselassie said that he will focus more on marathons in the future, and that he intends to run fewer shorter distances. Gebrselassie added that he is not sure if he would be able to win the Olympic Marathon in 2008, but thinks that he can break the world record.
