FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Patrick Terer Fulfils His Vow With Victorious Return to Prague
Patrick Terer kept his promise when he returned to the Volkswagen Prague
Marathon: A year ago the Kenyan finished third after an adventurous and
tiring last minute trip to the Czech capital. Terer said he would return
this year and win, and that is what he did on Sunday. In difficult weather
conditions with some strong wind and rain in the final stages the 23
year-old won the 20th anniversary edition of the Volkswagen Prague Marathon
with a personal best of 2:08:07. It was a close race with fellow-Kenyan
Evans Chebet crossing the line only ten seconds adrift. Zimbabwe's Cuthbert
Nyasango broke the national record in finishing third in 2:09:52. In
contrast the day proved disappointing for Moses Mosop. The Kenyan, who is
the second fastest marathon runner ever with his run of 2:03:06 for
runner-up in Boston in 2011, finished down the field in 12th place with
2:20:37. Firehiwot Dado of Ethiopia took the women's title, dominating the
action to win in 2:23:34. Her compatriots Fantu Eticha and Ashete Bekere
were well behind in second and third with 2:27:31 and 2:28:04 respectively.
Around 10,000 runners entered the Volkswagen Prague Marathon, which is an
IAAF Gold Label Road Race.
Peter Kirui was one of the key pacemakers, taking the lead group through 10
k in 30:05. The thought crossed the minds of quite a few onlookers that
this might turn into another story along the lines of: "Pacemaker turns
racer to win", since Kirui had won the city's half marathon in handsome
style five weeks ago. He looked strong, in contrast to Moses Mosop who was
already a minute behind the group at that point.
While the group of ten runners carried on to the half marathon point in
63:34, Mosop lost much more ground, going through in 68:19. However the
Kenyan, who was the fastest runner ever to line up for the Volkswagen
Prague Marathon, showed the determination which has made him such a
formidable competitor, refusing the easy option when he was clearly
struggling. The route passed the athletes' hotel a couple of times, but
Mosop did not yield to temptation.
"My body felt empty from the start. I was not able to do enough speedwork
due to an injury, but I will have a new start after some rest. One never
knows how far one can go after injuries and I was cautious in training.
That did cost me 10 to 12 seconds per kilometer. The rest was lost in the
process of a bad race, but I wanted to finish, show respect and thank
organizers and people of Prague for their hospitality and support," said
Mosop.
When Kirui ceased his pacemaking duties shortly after 30K, Terer and
Chebet made their move and carved out a big gap straightaway. "It was our
plan to attack once the pacemaker was out of the race," explained Terer
later. At the 35 k point it looked as if Chebet could get away. But after
loosing a couple of metres at a drinks station, Terer soon was back in
front and then it was his turn: He opened a gap of four seconds in the 37th
kilometre and gradually extended it to ten seconds. Terer had to maintain
his momentum because Chebet remained in contention, keeping the leader in
sight right to the finish in the Old Town Square.
"This is a very important victory for me especially after what happened a
year ago," said Terer, who has now won three of his four marathons. In
addition to his victory in Prague, he has twice won in Torino, firstly in
2012 with 2:10:34 and then the following year with what was then his PB of
2:08:52. The only marathon he did not win was the Volkswagen Prague
Marathon a year ago, but there were mitigating circumstances.
In the spring of 2013 Terer was supposed to run the Hannover Marathon. But
a Schengen visa was made invalid by mistake in Nairobi when he was about to
fly to Hanover via Amsterdam. The RunCzech organizing team then managed to
get him a new visa, but shortly before Terer was travelling, it was
discovered that the start date of the visa was wrong. Another urgent
contact with the Czech embassy in Nairobi finally made sure that Terer
could fly to Prague in 2013. Despite all these troubles Terer still
finished third in 2:10:10. "Thank you for getting me here," said Terer
during last year's press conference. Then he promised: "Next time I will
come back and win it."
Today Terer, who is coached by Italian Gabriele Nicola in Kenya, made
another promise to the Prague organisers: "I had hoped for a time of
2:07:30 to 2:07:50 today. I did not achieve this. But if I will be able to
start here again next year I promise to run 2:07:00."
There was joy for Cuthbert Nyasango in third place. With a time of 2:09:52
he became the first athlete from Zimbabwe to clock a sub 2:10 time. Tendai
Chimusasa was the former record holder with a time of 2.10:57 from 1998.
"It is great to break his record, because Tendai was my idol," said
Nyasango, who achieved surprise with seventh place in the Olympic marathon
in 2012. "After that I had injury problems for more than a year. So this
was a sort of comeback for me. I am very happy with my performance."
While Terer improved from third to first place in the Czech capital there
was also a Prague improvement for Firehiwot Dado. A good month ago she was
ninth in the Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon with 71:15. Not much suggested
that Dado could produce such a commanding performance. Led by her manager
Wellay Amare, who is a 2:12 marathoner and acted as pacemaker, she passed
the half way mark in 1:11:45. By 30K she had dropped her closest rivals
Ashete Bekere and Tsehay Desalegn. Highly rated Flomena Chepchirchir of
Kenya had struggled much earlier and finished tenth with 2:40:20. It looked
as if 30 year-old Dado could break her personal best of 2:23:15, but rain
and wind during the final section of the race slowed her. "I had hoped to
run even 2:20 to 2:21 but first we started too slow and then it was getting
tough in the weather conditions," said Dado.
Men:
1. Patrick Terer KEN 2:08:07
2. Evans Chebet KEN 2:08:17
3. Cuthbert Nyasango ZIM 2:09:52 NR
4. Nicholas Manza KEN 2:12:01
5. Hillary Yego KEN 2:12:55
6. Nicholas Kemboi QAT 2:13.03
12. Moses Mosop KEN 2:20:37
Women:
1. Firehiwot Dado ETH 2:23:34
2. Fatu Eticha ETH 2:27.31
3. Ashete Bekere ETH 2:28:04
4. Tsehay Desalegn ETH 2:31:25
5. Shuko Genemo ETH 2:32:19
6.Konjit Tilahun ETH 2:34:14
For more information online about the Volkswagen Prague Marathon, please go
to www.runczech.com
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