Press Release - Dusseldorf Marathon - 4/28/19

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                         Metro Marathon Düsseldorf:

     Tom Gröschel and Anja Scherl produce German victories in Düsseldorf
 
Tom Gröschel and Anja Scherl are the winners of the Metro Marathon 
Düsseldorf. It is the first time in the history of the event that there are 
two national winners. Both also took the German Championship as this was 
included in the race. Tom Gröschel clocked 2:13:49 in cloudy but dry 
weather conditions, which is a fine personal best and the fastest time by a 
German this year. In a close finish New Zealand's Malcom Hicks was second 
in 2:13:51, just two seconds behind the winner. Denmark's Thijs Nijhuis 
took third place with 2:14:18.
 
Only three weeks after running a marathon comeback race in Hannover, where 
she finished eighth in 2:32:31, Anja Scherl was a surprise late entry. She 
took the race in 2:32:56, followed by Hiruni Wijayaratne of Sri Lanka and 
Turkey's Ümmü Kiraz, who clocked 2:34:10 and 2:34:37 respectively. In her 
comeback marathon after injury Germany's Anna Hahner finished fourth in 
2:36:09.
 
Organisers of the 17th Metro Marathon Düsseldorf registered a total of 
20,000 athletes, including races at shorter distances. 3,500 of them were 
marathon runners. More than 60,000 spectators lined the streets to support 
the runners.
 
In a close men's race a group of four runners passed the half marathon mark 
in 1:07:23, including Tom Gröschel, Martin Hicks, Thijs Nijhuis and 
Russia's Fedor Shutov, who is an Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA). The same 
group of runners were still in the lead at the 30k mark (1:35:33) and at 
35k (1:51:17). Shutov was running two seconds behind though at 35k and then 
dropped back.
 
Between 35 and 40k Tom Gröschel and Malcom Hicks pushed the pace and 
managed to seperate themselves from the group. The race was then decided in 
the last few hundred meters with Tom Gröschel sprinting away to win with 
2:13:49. ,,I tried to push the pace in the second half and of course I knew 
the course from last year which gave me a bit of an advantage at the end," 
said Tom Gröschel, who became the second German men's winner of the Metro 
Marathon Düsseldorf. Carsten Eich was the winner back in 2004 when he ran 
2:14:06.
 
In the women's race Hiruni Wijayaratne from Sri Lanka passed the half 
marathon mark leading in 1:15:50. At that point German runners Anja Scherl 
and Anna Hahner were in second and third with split times of 1:16:49 and 
1:16:50. At the 30k mark Wijayaratne still had a big lead. She passed this 
point in 1:48:20 with Scherl now running alone in second (1:49:05) and 
Hahner (1:49:53) following in third position. Wijayaratne then could not 
keep the lead and was overtaken by Scherl shortly after 35k. However she 
clocked a Sri Lanka record of 2:34:10. "I was hoping to keep up with Anna 
first and then tried to push the pace after 25k," said Anja Scherl.
 
Results

Men:
1. Tom Gröschel              GER      2:13:49
2. Malcom Hicks              NZL      2:13:51
3. Thijs Nijhuis             DEN      2:14:18
4. Fedor Shutov              ANA/RUS  2:14:21
5. Jeisson Suarez Bocanegra  COL      2:14:48
6. Ihor Porozov              UKR      2:15:06
7. Mustapha EL Ouartassy     MAR      2:15:28 
8. Ronald Schröer            NED      2:16:00 
9. Frank Futselaar           NED      2:16:58
10. Simon Stützel            GER      2:18:58
 
Women:
1. Anja Scherl               GER      2:32:56
2. Hiruni Wijayaratne        SRI      2:34:10
3. Ümmü Kiraz                TUR      2:34:37
4. Anna Hahner               GER      2:36:09
5. Jovana De La Cruz         PER      2:37:41 
6. Hanne Verbruggen          BEL      2:39:03
7. Isabel Leibfried          GER      2:39:35
 
Further information can be found online at: www.metro-marathon.de

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