Wilfred Kigen is one of most well known Kenyan marathon runners in Germany. Three times he won the Frankfurt Marathon, twice he came in second in Hamburg and now he finished second in the METRO Group Marathon Düsseldorf on Sunday. It was only for a calf muscle injury, which he sustained around 35 k, that he did not win the race but had to be content with second place in 2:11:30. “For sure this is a fast course and I would have easily run sub 2:10 if I had not got the injury,” said Wilfred Kigen, slightly limping in the athletes hotel after the race. “I had to be careful in the final stages otherwise I might not have been able to finish the race.”

David Langat (Kenya/2:10:46) and Susanne Hahn (Germany/2:29:26) were the winners of Sunday’s METRO Group Marathon Düsseldorf, which confirmed its position as Germany’s upcoming spring marathon. Adding the winning times it was the METRO Group Marathon Düsseldorf which produced the best result of Germany’s spring marathons. In this list of combined times the race at the river Rhine is now number one with 4:40:12. Düsseldorf is 36 seconds faster than Hamburg, which used to be Germany’s number one in spring in the past. “We are very happy about this development and it is our aim to further develop our race,” said Race Director Jan Winschermann.

While Wilfred Kigen thinks it is possible to run much quicker in Düsseldorf than the times achieved on Sunday he believes that Kenyas best marathon runner will get even faster in the next few years. In his eyes Haile Gebrselassie’s world record of 2:03:59 will be well broken. “I think we will see a 2:02 marathon by a Kenyan in may be three years time,” said Wilfred Kigen, who himself believes he can improve his personal best of 2:07:33 to around 2:06.

The 7^th edition of the METRO Group Marathon Düsseldorf will take place on 2^nd May 2010.

More information is available online at: www.metrogroup-marathon.de  will run a 2:02 marathon by 2012

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