MARATHON FOCUS MOVES ON TO PRAGUE
Press Release
Prague, April 28, 2010: As all marathon watchers leave London and head to the Czech Republic, Prague International Marathon spol. s r.o. (“PIM“) the organiser of the Volkswagen Prague Marathon, prepares itself for what looks like being its best race ever on Sunday, May 9th.
PIM is making no secret of the fact that it is hoping to achieve the coveted IAAF Road Race Gold label for this race (an award that it received for its Hervis Prague Half Marathon earlier this year).
"If we can achieve the Gold Label for what is our 'flagship' race, then the last sixteen years of hard work will all have been worth it!" said Carlo Capalbo, President of the Organizing Committee of PIM. As part of its efforts to reach this goal, PIM has accumulated its best ever field of elite athletes for the race, including the Kenyan, Patrick Mutuku Ivuti, who started running in 1996 as a healthy hobby and is now the race favourite.
Ivuti is no stranger to the Volkswagen Prague Marathon. He is the course record holder (2:07:48) and has already participated in several races in Prague, including taking part in the Hervis Prague Half Marathon. Another runner to note is the Ethiopian, Yemene Tsegay, who finished 4th in the marathon in last year’s World Championships in Berlin. His personal best is 2:06:30. Tsegay was in Prague just a few weeks ago to take part in the Hervis Half Marathon, where he finished in a time of 1:01:37. The line-up for the men’s elite includes several other runners who have run under 2:10, and these include Dereje Debele, who says that his target is to win the Prague Marathon as he so loves the city, and Getu Feleke, who is expected to be one of the marathon stars of the future. After just eighteen months of training, Getu was already running sub-one hour half marathons and he ran 8th in the Amsterdam marathon (2:09:32) in 2009, just a few months after making his debut.
The women’s field is equally impressive, with four athletes holding personal bests below the present Volkswagen Prague Marathon record of 2:26:33, set by Maura Viceconte (ITA) in 2001. Favourite to win is Helena Loshanyang Kiprop from Kenya (2:24:54), who is expected to be challenged by Lyubov Morgunova (2:25:12), the highly experienced Russian runner who made her mark on the international scene when she ran the 1998 Beijing Marathon in 2:28:51, and who has also been the favourite in the London, Boston, Honolulu, Los Angeles, and Nagano Marathons.
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