by Brett Larner Despite gusty winds and intermittent rain the Haspa Hamburg Marathon saw fast times all around, particularly on the men's side where Ethiopian-born Shumi Dechasa (Bahrain) negative-splitted a PB 2:06:44 for the win over pre-race favorite Eric Ndiema (Kenya). Through halfway in 1:03:32, Dechasa and Ndiema were alone and side-by-side by 35 km before Dechasa threw down and opened a 17-second gap for the win. First-timer Philemon Rono (Kenya) was another 7 seconds back in 2:07:08, a solid debut to get onto the podium. Further back, Japan's Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), appearing with support from JRN, ran a rare time trial performance, sticking close to dedicated pacer Wilfred Kigen (Kenya) on track to just break 2:09 in a bid both to deal with the jet lag issues that have so far troubled his international racing and, if successful, to surpass national record holder Toshinari Takaoka and become the first Japanese man to clear ...
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