Fate Tola was 15 seconds short of a sensation when she finished the 35th Mainova Frankfurt Marathon. In her first marathon race after becoming a German citizen, the 29 year old runner starting for the LG Braunschweig achieved second place in 2:25:42 hours. Through this feat she not only claimed the German championship but also placed herself fourth in the eternal ranking of the fastest German female marathon runners. Only Irina Mikitenko (2:19:19), Katrin Dörre-Heinig (2:24:25) and Uta Pippig (2:25:37) are ahead of her.
If the course had been a 300 meters longer, Fate Tola would have been the winner because Mamitu Daska, who ran extremely well and even had a new course record (2:21:01) in sight, ran into problems and barely made it to the finish line as the winner. Third place went to Sarah Jebet from Kenya (2:27:07) and fourth place was surprisingly captured by Lindsay Flanagan (USA) in 2:29:28.
Mark Korir won a three-way Kenyan contest and took the 35th edition of the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon with a time of 2:06:48. The 28 year-old beat fellow Kenyans Martin Kosgey and Cybrian Kotut who ran 2:07:22 and 2:07:28 respectively. Bobby Curtis of the USA took a surprise fourth place, equalling his personal best with 2:11:20 in ideal conditions.
The title of German champion went to Marcus Schöfisch from Leipzig in 2:20:12 hours. 15,850 runners entered the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon which is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race. This makes it the second most popular marathon in Frankfurt’s history. All in all 27,500 runners took to the streets of Frankfurt – as many as never before.
Men’s Race: Mark Korir pressed the accelerator with 5km remaining
A leading group of eight runners was guided by three pacemakers as they went through half way in 62:58, all was going to plan. While Ethiopia’s Tadesse Tola, who was the fastest runner on the start list with a PB of 2:04:49, fell back at around 27 k and later finished fifth with 2:11:52, Korir, Kotut, Kosgey, Birhanu Achamie of Ethiopia and pacemaker Vincent Rono were together at 30 k. They passed this mark in 1:30:09 before Mark Korir began to push the pace. The pacemaker dropped out and Achamie could not hold on soon after the 30 k mark.
Mark Korir, who also won the Paris Marathon 2015, then started his attack with five kilometres to go and left his two fellow-Kenyans Martin Kosgey and Cybrian Kotut trailing. “When the pace dropped after 35 k I put the pressure on – and won. After having to drop out in the Paris Marathon this spring I was very disappointed. I wanted to redeem myself and I really enjoyed this race,” said Korir after crossing the indoor finish line in Frankfurt’s Festhalle. His 2:06:48 is the eighth best marathon winning this year in the world.
Martin Kosgey in second place was happy to have improved his personal best by a considerable margin to 2:07:22. “I knew from my training that I was in better form than before. But it was a surprise to achieve second place,” said Kosgey, who had run 2:09:50 in Hannover in 2015.
The current Paris Marathon champion Cybrian Kotut, who ran 2:07:11 in the French capital this spring, suffered of a hamstring injury during the final part of the race. “Everything was okay until 35 k when I got the injury. Nonetheless I am happy to have run 2:07 despite the problem,” said Kotut, the younger brother of marathon great Martin Lel.
There was a surprise in the men’s national championship race: Marcus Schönfisch won with a time of 2:20:12. Tobias Schreindl (LG Passau) was second in 2:20:38, Jannik Ernst (TV Waldstraße Wiesbaden) was third in 2:21:22. „At kilometre 40 I was in fourth place and then I was the first to cross the finish line. That was incredible. It was hard work and a great experience“, said Marcus Schöfisch.
Women’s Race: Fate Tola qualifies for world championships
As expected the Ethiopian pair of Mamitu Daska and Sutume Asefa Kebede established an early lead. The rate of their progress suggested a possible attack on the course record of 2:21:01, set in 2012 by fellow-Ethiopian Meselech Melkamu. Soon after they passed half way in a promising 70:40 minutes Daska went into the lead outright. However, she began suffering of stomach problems around the 25 k mark and had to vomit while running. She kept going and had lost only a few seconds by 30 k mark (1:57:50). At that time the picture behind her began to change. Fate Tola came forward from fifth and took second place by 37 k while Kebede dropped out.
Mamitu Daska was clearly struggling from 35 k, because of her earlier stomach problems. “It was my aim to win the race. But it was getting really tough because of the problems,” said Mamitu Daska, who had an advantage of 2:40 minutes at 35 k. Running a couple of kilometre splits of around 4:00 minutes she then lost considerable ground to Tola. At 40 k her advantage was cut to 1:24. However Daska held on to win with 2:25:27 – 15 seconds ahead of the German. Had the marathon distance been 300 metres longer the winner would surely have been Fate Tola. “I could have run 15 seconds faster, but I did not see Mamitu Daska early enough,” said Tola, who was not disappointed having missed victory so closely: “It was a great race for me, I am really happy.“
Mona Stockhecke from Hamburg came behind Fate Tola as the second best German woman. She was 8th in 2:31.30 and finally achieved a new personal best. „I had a good time and Frankfurt was a good stage for me. I’m happy how everything went in the end“, said Mona Stockhecke. Third place in the German title competition went to the triathlete Anne Haug from Saarbrücken (2:36:13).
Plenty of Personal Bests at Mainova Frankfurt Marathon
Again, the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon was a race day full of personal bests. Although the winners were a little slower than expected many runners in the elite field were able to „practically pulverize“ their personal best, said Christoph Kopp, the Sports Director. Two out of the ten best men achieved a personal best, among the top women it was even nine out of twelve runners.
Race Director Jo Schindler had many reasons to declare a successful race weekend: the second largest entry list (15,850 marathon registrations), the second largest number of finishers in the marathon (11,882), more than 27,500 runners in all competitions and a fantastic crowd of over half a million spectators on a sunny and perfect day. „Everybody could see a marathon in all of its facetes and what makes it so fascinating“, said Schindler.
The women’s finish in the Festhalle was typical for this event. While Mamitu Daska, the winner (2:25:27), looked upset after having endured sickness which almost cost her the victory, the runner-up, Fate Tola (2:25:42) was a bundle of joy. Her strong performance really impressed the crowd in the Festhalle.
The men’s race was especially exciting when it became a threeway battle in the final stretch. In the end it was Mark Korir who ran to victory in 2:06:48.
Looking ahead to 2017 Christoph Kopp is confident to have more leeway in acquiring talent for the marathon because during an Olympic year the competition among marathon events that take place in the autumn is usually tougher. „Next year it will be a whole new ballgame“, said Kopp.
Ferdinand Huhle, head of corporate communication at Mainova, concluded after the first year as the title sponsor: „We have seen great organization, great weather and great sport.“
Speaking of which, Tinka Uphoff, local hero starting for Spiridon Frankfurt, performed extremely well despite injuries which led to a bumpy start due into the year. In 2:41:35 she achieved a personal best making her fourth in the German championship ranking. „The atmosphere along the course was impressive. When I had some problems in my thigh at 28k I thought I had overdone but then at my home marathon I was carried to the finish line by a fantastic crowd.“
Third place in the title race went to Anne Haug who participated in the Olympic triathlon in Rio this summer. She showed an impressive performance in her first race over the classic distance in 2:36:13.
Successor of last year’s record runner Arne Gabius in the men’s race for the German championship was surprisingly Marcus Schöfisch from Leipzig who had never raced in a marathon before.
The relay marathon had lots of champions participating, too. Arne Gabius was one of them as were the Olympic marathon runners Julian Flügel and Philipp Pflieger and Rio participant Diana Sujew (1500m). Gesa Krause from Frankfurt who was 6th in Rio over the 3000m steeplechase returned to her roots. She famously won the Mini-Marathon years ago (and still holds the record over this 4.2k race for 8 to 16 year olds) and now acted as advisor and supporter for the race.
