Kenyans shine at annual Hannover Marathon
Kenya’s athletes recorded mixed results in men’s and women’s category during the 31st edition of ADAC Hannover marathon in Germany on Sunday. Kenya’s Dennis Chirchir came second after he timed 2:07:17 behind Germany’s Amanal Petros who clocked 2:07:02 to win the marathon.
Kenya’s Frederick Kibii sealed the podium places in 2:08:09. Kenyans Jonathan Maiyo (2:11:33), Geofrey Kiboy (2:11:42) and Amos Birgen (2:13:09) came fourth, Fifth and sixth respectively. With the pace not as even as planned two pacemakers led a group of five runners through the half marathon mark in 63:30. Originally a split time of 63:00 was planned.
The problem seemed to be that the runners right behind the pacers did not really go with their pace while Amanal Petros was at the end of the group. With a split time of 1:30:39 at 30k the German record of 2:06:27 was more or less out of reach.
The pace at that stage pointed towards a 2:07:30 finish. When the pacemakers dropped back shortly after the 30k mark Amanal Petros took the lead. For a short period his training partner Denis Chirchir and Frederick Kibii could hold on but then they could no longer cope with the pace of the German, who was fourth in the European Championships’ marathon in 2022.
The national record holder was able to increase the pace in the final quarter of the race, but his personal best was out of reach today. “Because of the uneven pace my muscles started to become tired earlier and I realized this at around 25k. But overall I came through very well,” said Amanal Petros. “It was the first time that I ran a German city marathon and this victory means a lot to me.
