Press Release - Vienna City Marathon - 4/25/22

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
                          Vienna City Marathon:

                  Austria's President welcomes Winners

         Support for Ukraine as Nataliya Lehonkova finishes race 
                        but does not return home

The reception of the winners by Austria's President on the day after the 
race has become a nice tradition at the Vienna City Marathon. However this 
year Alexander Van der Bellen wanted to experience more. "Every year the 
winners come to see me in the Vienna Hofburg. This is always nice. So this 
time I decided that I have to go and see the start," said Alexander Van der 
Bellen. Austria's President became the official starter of the 39th Vienna 
City Marathon on Sunday. On the next day Kenyan winners Cosmas Muteti and 
Vibian Chepkirui were welcomed by Alexander Van der Bellen in the Hofburg.

Both winners aim to come back for next year's Vienna City Marathon on 23rd 
April 2023."It is my aim to win the race for a third time in a row just as 
Nancy Kiprop did. And when I come back next year I want to run 2:18 here," 
said Vibian Chepkirui, who used to train with Nancy Kiprop back home in 
Iten. It was Nancy Kiprop's course record which she broke on Sunday with a 
time of 2:20:59."Nancy gave me some advice again before Sunday's race and 
she already congratulated me on my course record and said she is proud of 
me," said Vibian Chepkirui. Nancy Kiprop won the Vienna City Marathon from 
2017 to 2019 and clocked a course record of 2:22:12 three years ago. 
However due to an injury she is still unable to train.

The Vienna City Marathon is an event which features many different topics 
and initiatives during race week. Organisers are currently also developing 
a long-term concept with the aim of transforming the Vienna City Marathon 
into an event that is climate neutral by 2040. They have applied to be 
included in the United Nations' programme"Sports for Climate Action". The 
concept was introduced today during the reception in the Hofburg and at a 
press conference.

"The Vienna City Marathon has always been a race for peace. The war in the 
Ukraine is troubling for us and our runners as well. We try to help by 
supporting the initiative 'Nachbar in Not' ('Neighbour in Distress'). We 
sold wristbands with the wording 'Running for Peace' for five Euros and the 
money was donated to the 'Nachbar in Not' initiative," explained Kathrin 
Widu, the General Manager of the Vienna City Marathon. Almost 25,000 Euros 
were donated from this initiative.

As Vibian Cheruiyot's manager Julien di Maria explains Vibian Chepkirui is 
of course aware of the situation in Ukraine and prays for peace. While the 
Kenyan winner already makes plans for another return to Vienna in 2023 ten 
places further down a runner crossed the line on Sunday whose future is in 
jeopardy: Ukraine's Nataliya Lehonkova."I did not know that there was a 
Ukrainian woman in the race. But I appreciate her effort and the fact that 
the Vienna City Marathon invited her," said Vibian Cheruiyot.

Nataliya Lehonkova lives in Hmelnick which is small village in between Kiev 
and Lviv. Three and a half months ago the 39 year-old who has a personal 
best of 2:28:58 locked her house and travelled to Kyrgyzstan for high 
altitude training. She never returned since then."When I left we did not 
expect that there would be a war," said Nataliya Lehonkova, who stayed for 
three months in Kyrgyzstan and then acclimatized in Turkey for two weeks 
before traveling to Vienna.

"I am in touch with neighbors via social media and they told me that it is 
still quiet but that they see missiles flying," said Nataliya Lehonkova. 
None of her family is in Ukraine at present."My mother lives in Ternopol 
not so far from Lviv but she travelled to Heidelberg as a refugee. While my 
brother has been living in Miami for some time my father came from 
Kazakhstan. He was there   but died a couple of months ago at the age of 62 
after receiving a Sputnik vaccine," tells Nataliya Lehonkova of the 
terrible times she experiences. 

"I will not go back to Ukraine now. I have friends in Vienna and will stay 
with them for one or two weeks. Then I will probably visit my mother in 
Heidelberg," said Nataliya Lehonkova, who hopes to run a couple of shorter 
races in the spring. On Sunday she ran 2:38:52 for 11th place in Vienna."I 
had some muscle problems and felt tired. May be I trained too hard," said 
Nataliya Lehonkova.

Preparing for the Vienna City Marathon was really difficult for the 
Ukrainian, who represented her country in the 2016 Olympic Games marathon 
where she finished 87th."Obviously the situation is terrible in Ukraine. It 
was mentally difficult but also physically to do the marathon training. I 
need all my energy for training and must stay optimistic. But this is not 
possible if you see these news from Ukraine. For times I try to forget what 
is going on. So I only checked the news in the evenings to see what 
happened. I could not do this in the mornings as I would then not have been 
able to focus on training", said Nataliya Lehonkova."It is of course 
important for me to run for Ukraine now, it also sends a message. I pray 
for peace daily and just hope the war will be over soon."

For more information please visit www.vienna-marathon.com 

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