Newcomers win in Munich

Taking into account the wet weather during the second half of the race the 26 year-old showed an impressive performance and clocked a highly respectable 2:10:02. In a race without pacemakers he was in the lead throughout and achieved the fourth fastest winning time in the history of the event. Nehemiah Kipyegon was more than five minutes ahead of Siyum Tola. The Ethiopian ran his first marathon as well and finished in 2:15:29. Kenya’s Benard Chumba was third in 2:19:00.

Running her first race in Europe Ethiopia’s newcomer Asmare Assefa won the race in 2:29:44. The 26 year-old clocked a personal best and the second fastest winning time of the Generali Munich Marathon. Kenya’s Shamilah Kipsiror was second in 2:34:01 and Gelane Senbete of Ethiopia followed in third with 2:35:44.

Organisers of the Generali Munich Marathon registered a record number of almost 28,000 entries from 120 nations including events at shorter distances. Among them were 6,250 marathon runners.

“Today we witnessed a superb event with an impressive entry record and we have further established the international standing of the Generali Munich Marathon. We hope that we can continue staging this race,“ said Race Director Gernot Weigl, who also pointed out the huge financial benefit the marathon generates for the city of Munich. It is estimated that this is in the region of twelve million euro (13 million USD).

Nehemiah Kipyegon, who had recently improved his half marathon PB to 60:34 in Copenhagen, took the lead right after the start with four runners following behind him. Without any pacemakers he then reached the half marathon point in 64:13. At this point only Siyum Tola and William Kibor of Kenya were still behind him. However Kibor dropped back soon after half way. The Kenyan suffered badly with muscle problems and later finished well behind in 2:26:13. In a duel of two debutants Tola could not hold on for long. When Kipyegon ran sub 3:00 kilometre splits between 24 and 26k the Ethiopian was beaten. “He did not help pacing, so I decided to make a move,” said Nehemiah Kipyegon, who lives and trains in Keringet which is in between Nairobi and Eldoret. “This is my biggest career win so far. I think I can run times of around 2:05 in the future.”

In the women’s race four runners passed the 10k mark in 34:54. Running without pacemakers as well Shamilah Kipsiror did most of the pacing. While Ethiopians Gelane Senbete and Gadise Negasa were dropped Asmare Assefa stayed behind the Kenyan. When the two passed the half marathon point in 73:34 they were almost a minute ahead already. With less than ten kilometres to go Assefa finally passed Kipsiror and quickly built a big lead. The Kenyan was so exhausted that she collapsed after crossing the finish line and needed medical treatment.

“I was able to stay behind Shamilah for a long period and it went very well for me. However it was getting difficult when the rain turned stronger at around 27k. I think in good weather conditions I would have been three minutes faster,” said Asmare Assefa. “I would like to come back to Munich for this race next year.”