Skip to main content

Volkswagen Prague Marathon Preview

by Brett Larner


Japan's Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) will run Sunday's Volkswagen Prague Marathon with support from JRN in preparation for August's London World Championships marathon. At the pre-race press conference organizers expressed their hopes of seeing a 2:06 men's race, led by past 2:06 men Lani Kiplagat Ruto and Frankline Chepkwony of Kenya.  For his part Kawauchi said that his goal is to break his 2:08:14 PB dating back to 2013.  "I haven't broken my PB for four years, so I'm here to run 2:07," he said.

Organizers were even more optimistic about the potential outcome of the women's race, which features 2:20 women Feyse Tadese and Amane Beriso, two other Ethiopians with bests under 2:23, and 1:07:50 half marathoner Valary Jemeli Aiyabei. With the quality of field assemble, favorable weather conditions and the split timing and finish time projection system devised by Dr. Helmut Winter and used at the London, Berlin, Chicago and Dubai Marathons in place for the women, the hope is that Prague will see its first-ever women's 2:19 clocking. At the very least an update to the 2:22:34 course record looks to be in the works.

Volkswagen Prague Marathon Elite Field Highlights
Prague, Czech Republic, 5/7/17
times listed are athlete's best within last three years except where noted

Men
Lani Kiplagat Rutto (Kenya) - 2:06:34
Frankline Chepkwony (Kenya) - 2:06:51
Bazu Worku (Ethiopia) - 2:07:09
Stephen Kwelio Chemlany (Kenya) - 2:07:37
Gebrstsadik Abraha (Ethiopia) - 2:08:17
Raymont Choge (Kenya) - 2:08:39
Evans Kipkosgei Ruto (Kenya) - 2:08:55
Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) - 2:09:01
Oleksandr Sitkovskyy (Ukraine) - 2:09:11
Laban Kipkemboi Mutai (Kenya) - 2:09:16
Mekuant Ayenew (Ethiopia) - 2:09:23
Salah Eddine Bounasr (Morocco) - 2:10:25
Benson Kipruto (Kenya) - 2:13:24
Moses Mengich (Kenya) - 2:14:04
Edwin Kemboi (Austria) - 2:14:05
Nicolas Cuestas (Uruguay) - 2:15:31

Debut
Geoffrey Kipyego (Kenya) - 1:02:39
Said ait Addi (Morocco) - 1:03:25
Fred Musobo (Uganda) - 1:03:31
Blair Morgan (Canada) - 1:05:55

Women
Feyse Tadese (Ethiopia) - 2:20:27
Amane Beriso (Ethiopia) - 2:20:48
Mulu Seboka (Ethiopia) - 2:21:56
Tadelech Bekele (Ethiopia) - 2:22:51
Valary Jemeli Aiyabei (Kenya) - 2:24:48
Hirut Tibebu (Ethiopia) - 2:25:12
Sarah Jebet (Kenya) - 2:27:07
Beatrice Toroitich (Kenya) - 2:30:35
Rosa Chacha (Ecuador) - 2:35:39

Debut
Carlo Salome Rocha (Portugal) - 1:13:01
Sonia Cekini (Greece) - 1:16:08

text and photo © 2017 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Nationally-Ranked Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. Withdraws From Region Championships Due to Bear Attacks

5th at last year's National High School Ekiden boys' race, Fukushima's Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. has withdrawn its boys' and girls' team from the Nov. 6 Tohoku Region Ekiden Championships in Fukushima. A school spokesperson commented, "We made this decision based on the likelihood of our students coming into contact with bears in the city when out running in the morning." The Akita Athletics Association had already made an announcement on its website on Oct. 31 that due to the high number of bear encounters within the city of Akita this year , the ekiden would be held on a track instead of as a road race. Organizers said that they are leaving it up to each individual school whether to participate, and that they will accept schools choosing not to participate due to safety concerns. The Gakuho Ishikawa boys and girls both won the Fukushima Prefecture High School Ekiden in October, earning them places at the Tohoku regional meet and December's National High...
Post a Comment
Read more

Komazawa Back On Top With 17th National University Ekiden Title

#3-ranked Komazawa University came on strong over the second half of the National University Ekiden to take a record 17th national title, more than any other program in the national championship race's 57-year history. It had its share of dominant single-stage runs, but more than that this year's Komazawa lineup was consistent across the board, the only school to put all 8 of its runners into the top 5 on their stages, all but 2 of them in the top 3. Over the first 2 legs it was never more than 3 seconds out of 1st, moving up into that position by 1 seconds on the 3rd leg with a good run from 4th-year Yudai Kiyama . 3rd-year Kaisei Yasuhara was the weakest link with only the 5th-best time on the 4th leg, dropping Komazawa back to 4th and 35 seconds behind #2-ranked Chuo University 's Daichi Shibata . But on the next leg Komazawa 4th-year Aoi Ito turned it back around with the biggest run at this year's Nationals, running 35:01 for the 12.4 km 5th leg, 17 seconds unde...
1 comment
Read more

Hofu Yomiuri Marathon Elite Field

Everything in Japanese marathoning is already about qualifying for the MGC Race, Japan's trials race for the L.A. Olympics. Scheduled the same day as the Fukuoka International Marathon, the Dec. 7 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon counts the same weight as Fukuoka, Tokyo and Osaka in men's qualification, with trials spots up to be had by the first 6 Japanese men under 2:09:00 and the first Japanese woman under 2:27:00. The only real contender to do that among the women is Mizuki Nishimura , running her first marathon off a 1:41:42 CR at the Kumanichi 30k in February. Given the Tenmaya corporate team's track record of success in the marathon, including the current women's NR of 2:18:59, her chances are pretty good. Ayumi Morita ran a 2:31:38 PB in Tokyo last year, but it's a big jump for her to get down to 2:26 and it'll mostly be a question of whether Nishimura executes the same way she did at Kumanichi. For men there are 6 under 2:09:00 in the last 3 years, with Ryoma T...
Post a Comment
Read more