European Athletics (EAA) – News – Dutch marathoner Kibet the European star performer on ‘Super Sunday’

On a day when there were a multitude of marathons staged across the continent, the star European performer on Sunday was the Netherlands’ 2008 SPAR European Cross Country Championships winner Hilda Kibet.

Kibet reduced her personal best by nearly two minutes when she finished second at the 31st edition of the Rotterdam Marathon in 2:24:26, the second fastest time by a European runner this year.

She just lost out to marathon debutante Files Ongori, who clocked 2:24:19. The pair were together and alone at the front for most of the second half of the race but Kibet could not respond to the Kenyan’s surge with just under two kilometres to go.

“However, I’m very pleased. I feel as though I’m a bit more of a marathon runner now,” said Kibet.

“As this is my fourth marathon, I know what to expect. I’ve also been doing longer endurance runs in training, sometimes over 40 kilometres,” she added.

Not too far behind in fourth place was Spain’s Alessandra Aguilar, seventh over the distance at last summer’s European Athletics Championships, who improved by more than two minutes to 2:27:00 and just missed the Spanish record by nine seconds.

The men’s race in Rotterdam was won by Kenya’s Wilson Chebet in a world-leading 2:05:27. The first European home was local runner Koen Raymaekers, who was eighth 2:13:41 but fell a little short of his target of going under 2:10.

The 35th Paris Marathon provided the biggest event of the weekend with nearly 40,000 runners going through the French capital. Kenya’s Benjamin Kiptoo took the honours in 2:06:31 but there was an impressive debut over the distance for France’s Abdellatif Meftah, who finished 10th in 2:10:53.

“I’d like my next marathon to be in New York in November. I’m going to train harder to reach my goal of going under 2:08, but now I understand more about the distance,” reflected Meftah, who finished fourth at the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships.

Kenya’s Priscah Jeptoo won the women’s race in Paris in 2:22:55 while the best European was Russia’s Margarita Plaksina, who was fifth in a personal best of 2:27:07. The 33-year-old from St Petersburg finished  27th in the 2010 European Athletics Championships marathon but bounced back after her Barcelona disappointment to take nearly two minutes off her best time.

Croatia’s Lisa Stublic won the woman’s race at the 10th OMV Donau Marathon in Linz, Austria, and improved her national record as well as the women’s course record to 2:30:45, taking almost three minutes off her previous best of 2:33:42 from Berlin last year.

Kenya’s Nixon Machichim won the men’s race in 2:09:37 but the local distance running star Martin Proll struggled in the latter part of the race and could only finish third on his debut with 2:20:13.

Now 30, Proll won the 2003 European Athletics U23 Championships 3000m steeplechase title had hoped to challenge Günther Weidlinger’s national record of 2:10:47 set in 2009.

Ukraine’s Ivan Babaryka won the 38th Debno Marathon in Poland in a personal best 2:13:16 with Blazej Brzezinski getting the Polish national title when he finished second on his debut in 2:14:16 Belarus runner Mariya Butakova was the best woman in Debno with 2:44:53, finishing ahead of Poland’s Arleta Marloch, who took the national title with 2:46:43.

Kenya’s Solomon Bushendich fulfilled his role as the favourite for the 11th Milano City Marathon and won with 2:10:38 while  Italy’s Ruggero Pertile, fourth at the 2010 European Athletics Championships, was second in 2:11:23.

Sadly, the hot weather ruled out fast times, with the thermometer rising to 27 degrees but at least there was a local victory in the women’s race, which Marcella Mancini won with 2:41:24.

Great Britain’s Alyson Dixon impressed when she won the women’s race at the second Brighton Marathon, on the southern English coast, with 2:34:51 and got a qualifying time for the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, this summer.

European Athletics (EAA)