No
sooner said than done – the winner of the 2014 Volkswagen Prague
Marathon was Patrick Terer! Despite adverse weather conditions he again
ran a personal best and made this fresh promise at the press conference:
“I’d been hoping for a time between 2:07:30 and 2:07:50 and failed. But
if I can run here next year, I promise I’ll run 2:07:00!” That’s why
Patrick Terer will be running the Volkswagen Prague Marathon for the
third time on May 3 – this time as defending champion and wearing start
number 1.
The
24-year-old has won a race over the classic distance ever since his
first marathon in 2012: three years ago he triumphed on his debut in
Turin with 2:10:34, in 2013 he won Turin again, improving his time to
2:08:52 and in 2014 he won in Prague. If he succeeds in winning once
more in Prague and keeping his promise once again, he’ll be making a
name for himself in the country of the legendary long distance runner
Emil Zatopek, who was the inspiration for the founding of the Volkswagen
Prague Marathon. However, retaining the title will not be easy for
Patrick Terer because the IAAF Gold Label race in Prague has a top class
field.
Among
his rivals on May 3 will be a runner who has also been highly
successful in Prague: Peter Kirui. The Kenyan won the Sportisimo Prague
Half Marathon last year with a world class time of 59:22. A few weeks
later he returned to Prague and did an excellent job as pacemaker for
the Volkswagen Prague Marathon, setting the tempo for Patrick Terer and
the other top runners until shortly after 30 km. Thanks to that, the
27-year-old already knows the course of the Volkswagen Prague Marathon
very well – and his best time for the marathon is considerably faster
than Terer’s: in 2011 he ran 2:06:31 for sixth place in Frankfurt.
Another
Kenyan who could play a major role is Evans Chebet. The 26-year-old was
second in the marathon last year, improving his best time by over three
minutes to 2:08:17. He went even better than that in the Seoul Marathon
in the autumm, running 2:07:46 for second place.
However,
it’s a runner from Ethiopia who can claim the distinction of having the
fastest personal best among Prague’s elite field: Deribe Robi improved
his time by more than a minute in Dubai this year to 2:06:06. That
performance earned the 30-year-old a third place in the top quality
marathon in the desert Emirate. Another strong Ethiopian is Teferi
Kebede who ran his best time of 2:07:35 in the Tiberias Marathon in
Israel in 2012.
The
women’s competition has the makings of an all-Ethiopian contest. The
organisers have announced the participation of three fast Ethiopian
women who have already shown high quality form this year and run
personal bests. Yebrgual Melese will arrive in Prague as the Houston
Marathon champion from January, bringing her best time down to 2:23:23
with victory in the USA. A short time ago she was second in the
Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon with a fine 68:21.
Tadelech
Bekele ran even faster in Dubai in the same month with 2:22:51 which
earned her seventh place in a race of great strength in depth. She has
already won two RunCzech races: First she took the Mattoni Ceske
Budejovice Half Marathon in 2012 with a course record of 70:54 that
still stands. Then she won the Birell Prague Grand Prix 5 k in the same
year.
Ashete
Bekere, who improved to 2:23:43 and took tenth place in Dubai this
January, already knows the Volkswagen Prague Marathon. She was third
last year with a time of 2:28:04.