Press Release - Prague Marathon - 4/14/15

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Prague and the Promises of Patrick Terer: last year's Champion returns

Can Patrick Terer keep his second promise to the organisers of the 
Volkswagen Prague Marathon? The relationship between the prestigious 
marathon and the Kenyan goes back to 2013. The organisers were able to 
bring the athlete to Prague after he'd had problems acquiring a visa, 
leading to the Kenyan only arriving in the Czech capital at late notice. 
Despite an exhausting journey, Terer ran strongly and finished third with a 
personal best of 2:10:10. “Many thanks to the organisers for bringing me to 
Prague. Next year I'll come back and win,” said the Kenyan at the post-race 
press conference.

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.

For more information online about the Volkswagen Prague Marathon, please go 
to www.runczech.com
          
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