RECORDS SMASHED AT FRANKFURT MARATHON
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission

(31-Oct) -- The course records for both men and women were smashed at today's Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon, and Kenya's Wilson Kipsang became history's eighth man to break the 2:05 barrier with his 2:04:57 winning time.

Behind four Kenyan pacemakers --Eric Ndiema, Julius Arile, Lani Rutto, and Allan Kiprono-- Kipsang was part of a big lead pack which hit the halfway mark in 1:02:38.  Kiprono and Ndiema were still pacing through 30 km (1:29:12), and eight men were still in contention: Kenyans Kipsang, Francis Kiprop, Elijah Keitany, Philip Sanga, and Elias Chelimo; Ethiopians Tadese Tola and Terefe Maregu; and Ugandan Daniel Chepyegon.

But the race broke up in the next five kilometers after the pacemakers retired.  Kipsang and Tola split the 30 to 35 km segment in 14:47 and both Maregu and Sanga managed to remain just steps behind them.  Kipsang kept the pressure on, running a sparkling 14:46 for the next 5-K, leaving Tola 43 seconds behind.  It was a solo run from there to victory for Kipsang, and he crushed Gilbert Kirwa's one year-old course record of 2:06:14 by more than a minute.  Tola was able to hold on for second place in 2:06:31 --a personal best-- Chelimo got third in 2:07:04, and Sanga fourth in 2:07:11.   

In the women's race --which did not have the benefits of pacemaking-- three athletes ran aggressively from the start: Kenya's Caroline Cheptonui Kilel, and Ethiopia's Mare Dibaba and Dire Tune.  They covered the first half of the course in 1:10:59, more than a minute ahead of their nearest chasers, the Netherlands's Hilda Kibet and Kenya's Agnes Kiprop.  The leading trio stayed together through 35 km (1:58:37), before Kilel managed to gain a ten-second advantage on Tune by running from 35 to 40 km in 17:13.  Kilel expanded her margin to 19 seconds by the finish to clock a course record and personal best 2:23:25, toppling Alevtina Biktimirova's 2:25:12 Frankfurt record from 2005.  Tune clocked 2:23:44 --a personal best by about a minute-- and Kiprop got third in 2:24:07, also a career best.  The Kenyan-born Swede, Isabellah Andersson, broke her own national record in fourth (2:25:10), and Dibaba finished fifth.

Kipsang's victory was the 39th by a Kenyan man this fall marathon season, and his win marked the third performance under 2:05 this year, the first time in history that three men have broken that mark in one calendar year.

ENDS