Rotterdam Marathon Field Features Lots Of Speed
A 19-year-old is among the favorites to win the April 14 race.
A 19-year-old is among the favorites to win the April 14 race.
A fast men’s field will take the start line at next month’s Rotterdam Marathon.
Six men who have eclipsed the 2:06 mark are in the field, including 19-year-old Berhanu Shiferaw. The Ethiopian ran a personal best 2:04:48 in January’s Dubai Marathon, good enough for second place.
Shiferaw turns 20 at the end of May and Rotterdam will be the fifth marathon of his blossoming career.
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The five other speedsters in the April 14 race are Ethiopians Getu Feleke, Bazu Worku, Tilahun Regassa, and Kenyans Wilson Cheat and Sammy Kitwara.
The list of top contenders hardly stops there, however.
There’s 2011 world cross-country champion Geoffrey Kipsang of Kenya, who ran the 2012 Berlin Marathon in 2:06.12 — his marathon debut — and who won last month’s Ras Al Khaimah half marathon in 58:54. That time is the fastest in the world this year.
Other possible winners include Ethiopian Assefa Bentayehu (2:06.22 PR) and strong half marathoners Atsedu Tsegay of Ethiopia and Kenya’s John Nzau Mwangangi.
From: IAAF