The 32nd Tiberias Marathon takes place in northern Israel on 8 January along the shores of the Sea of Galilee – at 200m below sea level.

New records in Tiberias marathon – the race from last year – Friday, 11 January 2008, 15:06 By: Jack Cohen
Five runners succeeded in improving the route record as well as the Israeli all-comers record and ran under 2:12 hours. A new participation record was also recorded as approximately 1000 runners took part, from 21 countries

The 31st Tiberias Marathon which took place on Thursday January 10th 2008 is the most populated sports event in Israel and gave rise to respectable achievements. The Marathon race presented a list of participants crossing political, religious and social limits. This was the most successful race so far and response was enthusiastic.

The big winner was Leonard Muceru of Kenya, who last year represented Bahrain but now reverted to Kenyan uniforms and broke the Israel all-comers record clocking 2:10:32h. This earned him 40,000$. He was followed by compatriots Mugeru Kenneth Mburu (2:10:37h), Jackson Kipkoach (2:10:57) and Samuel Muturi (2:11:05 minutes). Athena Galena of Ethiopia ran 2:11:58 hours.

They all ran under 2:12 hours to collect the purse which exceeded 100,000 $. In a well attended ceremony, the prizes exceeding 100,000$ was distributed by Tiberias Mayor Zohar Oved. He promised increased prizes next year including an increase of the greatest amount from 40 to 50,000 dollars…

One of the top stories involved Haile Stayin, the senior Israeli Marathon runner who has already secrured his spot on the Israeli delegation to Beijing 2008. Satayin was late returning from a training camp in Ethiopia to a legal civil dispute and landed in Israel at the early morning hours. He did not make it to the starting area as late as 13 minutes preceding the start. He was at the top Israeli runners group through 32 Km but then had to retire. Zvadya Vodage won the national title, clocking 2:18:44 h, whereas last year's winner Assaf Bimro was only a few steps behind in 2:18:46h . Nili Abramski won the race proper as well as, obviously, the national title in 2:39:15. This was her 11th Tiberias Marathon win.

The day after the races a warm down run was held in Tiberias.  It was organized thanks to a contribution by the Sherutey Briut Clalit.

About 5,000 men and women reported to the various races during those two days.

Tiberias Marathon