FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Course Records Targeted,
Experienced Leah Malot Meets Katrin Dörre-Heining's Daugther Katharina

Course records will be the target in both the men's and the women's race of
the TUI Hanover Marathon, which will be staged on Sunday. A group of
Kenyans and Ethiopians are the ones capable to break the current records of
2:08:52 and 2:31:19. A total of 14,221 runners are expected to take part in
the various running events of the race. The TUI Hanover Marathon is an IAAF
Bronze Label Race.

In the men's race three athletes have been entered with personal bests of
sub 2:10. It is Ethiopia's Megersa Bacha Chikuala who features the fastest
time of the elite runners. The 27 year-old has clocked 2:08:55 when he took
third in last year's Turin Marathon. In that race he just hold off the
challenge of Peter Kurui. The 24 year-old Kenyan crossed the line just one
second behind with a personal best of 2:08:56 for fourth place. Kurui has
the advantage that he knows the fast Hanover course. A year ago he was
second in this race with 2:09:35.

While Chikuala and Kurui could be involved in another duel there are a
couple of more athletes who are in with a chance. Kenya's Amos Mutai also
ran well in Hanover a year ago. He was third at the TUI Hanover Marathon in
2011 with 2:10:07. His personal best stands at 2:09:35. Jospeh Kiptum has
recently shown very promising form, when he clocked a personal best in the
Berlin half marathon with 60:26 minutes. The Kenyan should be able to
improve his personal best of 2:10:07 on Sunday. Abdisa Sori Bedada
(Ethiopia/PB: 2:10:26) and Johnstone Chepkwony (Kenya/2:11:33) could also
do well. Organisers have been unlucky with a couple of late withdrawals.
Among them was Kenya's Olympic Steeplechase Champion from Sydney 2000,
Reuben Kosgei.

It would be a surprise if the course record would not fall in the women's
race provided weather conditions will be fine as forecasted. The big
favourite comes from Ethiopia: Eyerusalem Kuma has a personal best of
2:24:55. The 31 year-old has placed second in Amsterdam last year, when she
achieved her personal best. But she has already run a marathon this year,
when she was seventh in Tokyo with 2:28:36. So it remains to be seen how
fresh Kuma will be in the final stages.

Another woman who wants to follow a 73:00 minutes half marathon pace is
Leah Malot. The 39 year-old Kenyan will run her sixth marathon on Sunday
and so far has a personal best of 2:29:17. "My training has gone well and I
really want to run sub 2:30 again. It would be nice if I could break my
personal best on Sunday," said Leah Malot, who had done very well in Cross
Country many years ago. She was sixth in the World Cross Country
Championships in 2000.

A German athlete to watch is Katharina Heinig. The 22 year-old daughter of
former world-class runner Katrin Dörre, who had won the Olympic marathon
bronze medal in 1988 (the year before Katharina was born) and won the
London Marathon three times, had been unlucky a year ago. With five
kilometres to go in the TUI Marathon Hanover she developed a stress
fracture in her foot. "But I desperately wanted to finish. So I carried on
despite the pain," recalls Katharina Heinig, who then finished in a
personal best of 2:42:10. It took her many months to recover from the
injury and there was no chance to run an autumn marathon. "In September I
could start running again, but I still had to be careful. Then in January
we went to Spain for training and all was going well there. Three weeks ago
we came back from high altitude training in Kenya. It was very motivating
for me to see all the Kenyan world-class runners training in Iten", says
Katharina Heinig, who is coached by her father Wolfgang.

On Sunday Katharina Heinig will run her third marathon. "My aim is to
clearly improve in Hannover and I want to run well under 2:40," said
Katharina Heinig, who will get support from both her parents along the
course. A result around 2:35 would be a good and realistic improvement for
Katharina Heinig.

More information about the TUI Marathon Hannover is available online at:
www.marathon-hannover.de

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