Skip to main content

Gebrehiwot Takes Over Five Minutes Off Muenster Marathon Course Record

by Brett Larner

 Click here for Dr. Helmut Winter's German-language article on this year's Muenster Marathon including a large number of high-quality photos.

The day dawning with heavy rain, wind, thunder and lightning, the 12th edition of the Volksbank Muenster Marathon saw the worst conditions in the race's history, but with radically opposing results in the men's and women's races the weather's impact on the race was hard to determine.  In the men's race things went out very slow on the twisting roads in the course's first 10 km, understandable given the slick cobblestone surface.  The designated Kenyan pacer was more than 10 seconds per km off the target pace of 3:06/km, but still the almost entirely Kenyan lead pack lagged behind.  Japanese runners Yuko Matsumiya (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) and Yuya Shiokawa (Team Subaru), in Muenster with support from JRN, gestured for the pacer to run the designated splits but he repeatedly looked over his shoulder and slowed to let his countrymen catch up.

Going through 10 km just under 33 minutes and halfway just over 69, things didn't get moving until Evans Kipkorir Taiget (Kenya) threw in a surge around 25 km and another at 33 km.  The first broke up the ten-strong pack, while the second opened the race up as Taiget moved clear into the lead.  Running unchallenged to the finish, he crossed the line in 2:15:56 for the win, far off the anticipated sub-2:10:25 course record time.  Joel Kipsang Kositany (Kenya) was next in 2:16:44.

Following a brief pit stop at 37 km followed by a sub-3-minute km to catch back up to the leaders, Matsumiya, the identical twin brother of 5000 m and 30 km national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta), dueled with Peter Kariuki Wanjiru (Kenya) before inching away to take 3rd in 2:17:58. Shiokawa, a graduate of defending National University Ekiden champion Komazawa University, faded to 6th but rallied after 40 km to run down John Kyalo (Kenya) for 5th in 2:18:41. Matsumiya later endeared himself to the crowd at the award ceremony when he jumped from the stage to present his bouquet of flowers to a young woman in the audience to a roar of approval.

The women's race, on the other hand, was a far faster and more focused event.  Newly a German citizen, Eleni Gebrehiwot was dead set on a sub-2:30 clocking to get the qualifying standard for next year's European Championships.  Running with two male designated pacers, she went out on target and stayed there, grinding down the competition regardless of the conditions and knocking three minutes off her best and five and a half minutes off the course record as she won in 2:29:13.  Last year's winner Joan Rotich (Kenya) was also under her PB and the old CR but was a distant afterthought in 2nd, more than a kilometer behind in 2:33:57.  The top five all broke last year's winning time, with at least four of the top six setting new personal best marks.  Veteran Chihiro Tanaka (AthleC AC) finished just out of the prize money in 7th in 2:43:19, 1st among 40+ women.

Winners Taiget and Gebrehiwot post-race.

The disparity between the men's and women's results was hard to figure as the men's results were understandable given the conditions, while the same handicap applied to the women's race would make it something truly remarkable.  If the overall women's results are taken as only good then the men's are very lackluster and suggest a lack of initiative given the number of sub-2:10 and sub-2:12 men in the field.  Chalk it up to poor pacing or the enigmatic flow of a race, and/or to the extra motivation Gebrehiwot brought that powered the rest of the women's field.  In any case, Gebrehiwot's performance helped elevate Muenster's profile and hopefully sets the stage for the men to follow suit next year with a sub-2:10 record.


12th Volksbank Muenster Marathon
Muenster, Germany, 9/8/13
click here for complete results

Men
1. Evans Kipkorir Taiget (Kenya) - 2:15:56
2. Joel Kipsang Kositany (Kenya) - 2:16:44
3. Yuko Matsumiya (Japan/Team Hitachi Butsuryu) - 2:17:58
4. Peter Kariuki Wanjiru (Kenya) - 2:18:06
5. Yuya Shiokawa (Japan/Team Subaru) - 2:18:41
6. John Kyalo (Kenya) - 2:19:37

Women
1. Eleni Gebrehiwot (Germany) - 2:29:13 - PB, CR
2. Joan Rotich (Kenya) - 2:33:57 - PB (CR)
3. Frashiah Nyambura Waithaka (Kenya) - 2:35:51
4. Mahlet Melese Behailu (Ethiopia) - 2:37:23 - PB
5. Gelane Senbete (Ethiopia) - 2:38:09
6. Meseret Eshetu Deme (Ethiopia) - 2:40:26 - PB
7. Chihiro Tanaka (Japan/AthleC AC) - 2:43:19

text and photos (c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Hassan Runs NR/CR for Osaka Win, Dibaba Hits Women's CR, Yoshida and Shuley Earn Legends

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...
4 comments
Read more

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...
1 comment
Read more

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...
4 comments
Read more