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Haile Gebrselassie & Gete Wami of Ethiopia Win 2006 Berlin Marathon

Posted September 26th, 2006 at 12:01 AM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Marathons

berlin marathon winners 2006.jpg Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia won the men’s side of the Berlin Marathon this past Sunday in Germany. The Ethiopians swept the event, with Gete Wami running her way to the head of the women’s field. Gebrselassie’s 2:05:56 and Wami’s 2:21:34 hours both broke Ethiopian records and they became the first ever Ethiopian winners of the Berlin Marathon.

According to Reuters, Gebrselassie was almost half a minute ahead of Kenya’s Paul Tergat world record pace with only 8km remaining. Tergat set the record in 2003 in Berlin with a time of 2:04:55. However, the weather and lack of competition probably prevented Gebrselassie from setting a new record. His time was the fastest at a marathon this year. Gebrselassie responded to his near record-setting time by stating:

What do I think of Tergat’s World record now? I admire Paul greatly but I think I can break the marathon World record sometime in the next year.

The victory in Berlin has given me more confidence for the marathon at the Olympics, though I have to qualify for the Ethiopian team for Beijing first! I was confident before Berlin that I would run well and this performance shows that I’m one of the best in the marathon. I’m not bad at all!

According to the IAAF, Gebrselassie is now the fifth fastest person in history and his 2:05:56 is the seventh fastest time.

Almost 40,000 runners participated in marathon from over 100 countries with approxiamtley 1 million loving fans routing them on.

The real,-Berlin Marathon is one of the five events in the “World Marathon Majors”. The other events are ING New York City, Boston, Flora London and LaSalle Bank Chicago.

Gebrselassie is now tied for the Majors lead with Kenyans Robert Cheruiyot, the 2006 Boston marathon winner, and Felix Limo, who was victorious at this year’s London Marathon. Meb Keflezighi of the United States is tied for seventh.

The top male and female finishers of the Majors will split a $1 million prize purse.

Source: [IAAF], [ESPN via Reuters]

Picture from: [Mittelbayerische]

Robert Cheruiyot chosen as year’s top male marathoner | The Final Sprint (TFS) | Comprehensive Running, Nutrition, and Fitness Publication said:

[…] Cheruiyot, 28, who won both the BAA Boston and LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathons, got the #1 ranking over Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie because, according to RRW, “The fields he beat in Boston and Chicago were stronger and larger than those which Gebrselassie defeated at the real,- Berlin and Fukuoka Marathons.” Gebrselassie ran the world-leading time at Berlin (2:05:56) was the runner-up in the RRW rankings. He and Cheruiyot did not face each other during the year. Felix Limo, also of Kenya, was given the #3 ranking because of his victory at the Flora London Marathon. Surprise ING New York City Marathon champion, Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil, came in fourth. The NYC Marathon was the only marathon dos Santos’ competed this year […]
December 28th, 2006 at 7:24 am
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