real,-Berlin Marathon 2009 Preview: Haile, Haile!

On September 20th, it will be the 36th edition of one of the greatest marathons in the world, the real,-Berlin Marathon 2009. Voted recently as the Marathon of the Decade by IAAF, Berlin is known for its super fast flat course, and a witness to as many as 6 world records over the last 20 years, which have been as follows:

- 28 Sep 2008 – Haile Gebrselassie, 2:03:59

- 29 Sep 2007 – Haile Gebrselassie, 2:04:26

- 28 Sep 2003 – Paul Tergat, 2:04:55

- 30 Sep 2001 – Naoko Takahashi, 2:19:46

- 26 Sep 1999 – Tegla Loroupe, 2:20:43

- 20 Sep 1998 – Ronaldo da Costa, 2:06:05

The marathon, which started in 1974, sees great participation, with 2008 witnessing as many as 40,827 starters and 35,913 finishers, which made the Berlin marathon the second largest marathon in the world. This year too will see 40,000 runners at the starting line. There is a time limit of 6 hours 15 minutes to finish the run. Besides the marathon, other events which happen are skating and a mini-marathon.

The last couple of years have totally been dominated by the legend, the kind of long distance running, Haile Gebrselassie, who has set world records in each of the last two runs. Of course, there has been some criticism of the fact that the organizers set up this event around Gebrselassie, with the other top runners being more of his pacers that competitors, and the event becoming a timed trial run, but then, who cares if Gebrselassie can break world records in the process! And Gebrselassie has announced his intentions to do exactly that come Sep 20th. In fact, this was the very reason why he skipped the marathon at the World Athletics Championships, also held in Berlin in August.

Well, for a change, things will be different this year around. No time trials this year, because Gebrselassie will be facing none other than Duncan Kibet, who won this years crazy Rotterdam marathon in 2:04:27, becoming the second fastest man ever over this distance, with Gebrselassie having the top two fastest timings! So, with a perfect day, good running conditions and weather, a great flat course, and the two fastest men shoulder to shoulder, things could just set up perfectly for a new marathon world record!

Route map: The course map for the marathon is as follows: