FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Philipp Sanga gets a second chance in Duesseldorf

Philipp Sanga is the fastest runner on the start list of the METRO GROUP
Marathon Duesseldorf on 24th April. He features a personal best of 2:06:07.
A number of fellow Kenyans plus defending champion Marius Ionescu of
Romania are among the men?s elite runners. This was announced by the
organisers today. Late entry for the METRO GROUP Marathon Duesseldorf,
where the finish is besides the river Rhine, is still possible at:
www.metrogroup-marathon.de

Five days ago Philipp Sanga seemed to have lost his chance to run a spring
marathon. Scheduled to compete in Hannover last Sunday there was a mistake
in the visa so that the 32 year-old was unable to fly out of Nairobi.
However his agony ended today when the organizers of the METRO GROUP
Marathon Duesseldorf offered him another opportunity in Germany just two
weeks later. With his personal best of 2:06:07 Sanga is the fastest runner
in the elite field. He ran this time when he was fourth in Frankfurt back
in 2011. A marathon specialist the Kenyan has already run sub 2:09 eight
times. The last time he achieved such a result was in Vienna two years ago
where he was third in 2:08:58. Another fine performance came in Boston in
2011, where he took seventh in 2:07:10. While he was runner-up on a couple
of occasions so far Philipp Sanga has never won a marathon. He will look to
add a first victory in Duesseldorf next week.

Among his rivals are fellow-Kenyans Cosmas Kigen and Mathew Bowen. Kigen
has a personal record of 2:09:43 from Cologne in 2011 while Bowen ran
2:10:57 in Rennes three years ago. More recently he was sixth in Toronto
last autumn in 2:11:28. Defending champion Marius Ionescu will also return
to Duesseldorf. The 31 year-old ran a personal best of 2:13:19 a year ago.
However this time it will be much more difficult for him to win again since
the field is much stronger than a year ago. For financial reasons
organizers had a very limited elite field in 2015 and no African top
runners were invited.

"We are happy that this year our event has a stronger elite field again so
that we can position the METRO GROUP Marathon Duesseldorf much better among
the international significant marathons," said Race Director Jan
Winschermann.

Three German runners will try to use the final opportunity to snatch a
place on the German Olympic team. As things stand at the moment Falk
Cierpinski (PB: 2:13:30), Manuel St?ckert, who ran a marathon pacing the
women, and debutant Hendrik Pfeiffer need to run sub 2:13:57 in Duesseldorf
to have a chance for a ticket. At the moment Arne Gabius (2:08:33), Philipp
Pflieger (2:12:50) and Julian Fl?gel (2:13:57) are the ones on the plane to
Rio.

More information is available at: www.metrogroup-marathon.de

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