Press Release - Berlin Half Marathon - 3/30/14

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

         Komon Takes Berlin With Fastest Debut Half Marathon Ever

Running his debut at the distance Leonard Komon won the 34th Vattenfall 
BERLIN HALF MARATHON with a world-class time of 59:14, just edging out 
fellow-Kenyan Abraham Cheroben in a sprint finish. While 26 year-old Komon 
clearly missed the world record (58:23) he wanted to break, the Kenyan 
still had plenty to celebrate: His time is an unofficial world debut 
record. He improved the mark of Moses Mosop by six seconds. Fellow-Kenyan 
Mosop clocked 59:20 in Milan in 2010. Ethiopia's Tadelech Bekele won the 
women's race in 70:05.

Running with a tailwind during the first 10k a very fast race developed. 
After passing the 5k mark in 13:39 a group of four runners - Kenya's 
pacemaker Vincent Rono led his fellow countrymen Komon, Cheroben and Daniel 
Chebii - reached the 10k point in 27:40. With this split time the group 
was on time for a world record. But Rono's pacemaking duties soon ended and 
when the group of three turned into Kurfuerstendamm after 11 k they ran 
into a head wind for most of the remaining distance. While Chebii could no 
longer hold on, Cheroben showed a great performance. The Kenyan, who is a 
training partner of Komon and entered the race with a personal best of 
60:38, took the lead. "I have to thank him for this, because it really 
helped me," said Komon after the race. 

However the pace dropped and the world record became unrealistic once the 
two leaders passed the 15k point in 41:44. In the final few kilometres it 
was now about winning not about chasing records. In a sprint finish Komon, 
who is the world record holder at 10 and 15k, just beat Cheroben. Both 
were given the same time of 59:14 which is the second fastest this year. 
The course record remains at 58:56, set by Patrick Makau (Kenya) in 2007. 

"I am happy with my performance in my debut race. Of course I ran longer 
distances in training, but there is always a difference between training 
and competition. I thought I would be able to run sub 59 minutes. It was a 
challenge, but at the end there was something missing. But I know what to 
do and will try to run such a time in my next half marathon," said Leonard 
Komon, who intends to move up to the marathon distance in the future.

Komon finished ahead of eleven fellow Kenyans. Behind Cheroben the fight 
for second place was very close as well. Richard Mengich edged out Sylas 
Kimutai with both clocking 60:17. Chebii followed in fifth place with 
60:40. Germany's André Pollmächer ran a fine race with a PB of 62:45 in 
13th place.

In the women's race Kenya's Agnes Mutune and Tadelech Bekele led from the 
beginning. With little more than two kilometres to go 22 year-old Bekele 
moved ahead. The pace was not as fast as expected and with the wind during 
the second half Bekele missed out on a sub 70 minutes finish. Clocking 
70:05 she was eight seconds ahead of Mutune (70:13). "I am happy with this 
win and it is my plan to prepare for a marathon," Bekele said. Running in 
third position for most of the race Germany's Sabrina Mockenhaupt kept the 
podium place, finishing in 71:43. Maja Neuenschwander (Switzerland) was 
fourth with 1:12:43. 

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