FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Metro Marathon D?sseldorf:

Tom Gr?schel and Anja Scherl produce German victories in D?sseldorf

Tom Gr?schel and Anja Scherl are the winners of the Metro Marathon
D?sseldorf. It is the first time in the history of the event that there are
two national winners. Both also took the German Championship as this was
included in the race. Tom Gr?schel clocked 2:13:49 in cloudy but dry
weather conditions, which is a fine personal best and the fastest time by a
German this year. In a close finish New Zealand's Malcom Hicks was second
in 2:13:51, just two seconds behind the winner. Denmark's Thijs Nijhuis
took third place with 2:14:18.

Only three weeks after running a marathon comeback race in Hannover, where
she finished eighth in 2:32:31, Anja Scherl was a surprise late entry. She
took the race in 2:32:56, followed by Hiruni Wijayaratne of Sri Lanka and
Turkey's ?mm? Kiraz, who clocked 2:34:10 and 2:34:37 respectively. In her
comeback marathon after injury Germany's Anna Hahner finished fourth in
2:36:09.

Organisers of the 17th Metro Marathon D?sseldorf registered a total of
20,000 athletes, including races at shorter distances. 3,500 of them were
marathon runners. More than 60,000 spectators lined the streets to support
the runners.

In a close men's race a group of four runners passed the half marathon mark
in 1:07:23, including Tom Gr?schel, Martin Hicks, Thijs Nijhuis and
Russia's Fedor Shutov, who is an Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA). The same
group of runners were still in the lead at the 30k mark (1:35:33) and at
35k (1:51:17). Shutov was running two seconds behind though at 35k and then
dropped back.

Between 35 and 40k Tom Gr?schel and Malcom Hicks pushed the pace and
managed to seperate themselves from the group. The race was then decided in
the last few hundred meters with Tom Gr?schel sprinting away to win with
2:13:49. ,,I tried to push the pace in the second half and of course I knew
the course from last year which gave me a bit of an advantage at the end,"
said Tom Gr?schel, who became the second German men's winner of the Metro
Marathon D?sseldorf. Carsten Eich was the winner back in 2004 when he ran
2:14:06.

In the women's race Hiruni Wijayaratne from Sri Lanka passed the half
marathon mark leading in 1:15:50. At that point German runners Anja Scherl
and Anna Hahner were in second and third with split times of 1:16:49 and
1:16:50. At the 30k mark Wijayaratne still had a big lead. She passed this
point in 1:48:20 with Scherl now running alone in second (1:49:05) and
Hahner (1:49:53) following in third position. Wijayaratne then could not
keep the lead and was overtaken by Scherl shortly after 35k. However she
clocked a Sri Lanka record of 2:34:10. "I was hoping to keep up with Anna
first and then tried to push the pace after 25k," said Anja Scherl.

Results

Men:
1. Tom Gr?schel GER 2:13:49
2. Malcom Hicks NZL 2:13:51
3. Thijs Nijhuis DEN 2:14:18
4. Fedor Shutov ANA/RUS 2:14:21
5. Jeisson Suarez Bocanegra COL 2:14:48
6. Ihor Porozov UKR 2:15:06
7. Mustapha EL Ouartassy MAR 2:15:28
8. Ronald Schr?er NED 2:16:00
9. Frank Futselaar NED 2:16:58
10. Simon St?tzel GER 2:18:58

Women:
1. Anja Scherl GER 2:32:56
2. Hiruni Wijayaratne SRI 2:34:10
3. ?mm? Kiraz TUR 2:34:37
4. Anna Hahner GER 2:36:09
5. Jovana De La Cruz PER 2:37:41
6. Hanne Verbruggen BEL 2:39:03
7. Isabel Leibfried GER 2:39:35

Further information can be found online at: www.metro-marathon.de

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