The 2012

Berlin Marathon The Berlin Marathon (german: Berlin-Marathon, ) is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of , inclu ...

was the 39th edition of the annual

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

event and was held on Sunday 30 September on the streets of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany. An

IAAF Gold Label Road Race World Athletics Label Road Races are races that the World Athletics (until 2019: ''IAAF'') designates as one of the "leading road races around the world." The classification was first introduced for the 2008 running season, upon the suggestion of ...

, it was the third

World Marathon Majors The World Marathon Majors (WMM) (known for sponsorship reasons as the Abbott World Marathon Majors) is a championship-style competition for marathon runners that started in 2006. A points-based competition founded on six major marathon races recog ...

event to be held that year.

Geoffrey Mutai Geoffrey Kiprono Mutai (born 7 October 1981) is a Kenyan long distance runner who specialises in road running competitions. On 18 April 2011 at the Boston Marathon, Mutai ran the fastest marathon ever at the time in a time of 2 hours 3 minutes 2 ...

won the men's race in a time of 2:04:15 hours and

Aberu Kebede Aberu Kebede Shewaye (born 12 September 1989) is an Ethiopian long distance runner who specializes in road running competitions. Her half marathon best of 1:07:39 is one of the fastest ever by an Ethiopian woman. She gained a bronze at the 2009 ...

was the women's winner in 2:20:30. A total of 34,377 people (26472 men, 7905 women) finished the marathon race. Prior to the race, Mutai was the principal focus of men's competition and the head of an attempt to challenge

Patrick Makau Patrick Makau Musyoki (born 2 March 1985) is a runner from Kenya. He is a former world record holder in the marathon—His time of 2:03:38, run at the 2011 Berlin Marathon, was the world record for two years, until it was beaten by Wilson Kipsa ...

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

set at the

2011 Berlin Marathon The 2011 Berlin Marathon was the 38th edition of the annual marathon event and was held on Sunday 25 September on the streets of Berlin, Germany. The men's race was won by Patrick Makau of Kenya in a world record time of 2:03:38 hours. The women' ...

. To assist in this challenge, the organisers invited a number of his training partners, among them

Dennis Kimetto Dennis Kipruto Kimetto (born 22 January 1984) is a Kenyan long distance runner who competes in road running events. He was the world record holder in the men's marathon with a time of 2 hours 2 minutes 57 seconds, a record which he held until Eli ...

, who was untested over the distance but a

holder over 25 km. Other competitors included

Geoffrey Kipsang Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor (born 22 November 1992) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who competes in cross country, marathon, and half marathon races. He was the 2011 World Junior Cross Country Champion. Kamworor won the IAAF Worl ...

, another marathon debutant, and

Jonathan Maiyo Jonathan Kiplimo Maiyo (born 5 May 1988) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in half marathon and marathon events. His personal bests of 59:02 minutes and 2:04:56 hours, respectively, ranks him in the top twenty all-time in both event ...

(a sub-2:05 runner).

Mizuki Noguchi is a Japanese professional long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon event. She is an Olympic champion over the distance. Initially starting out as a track and cross country athlete, her first major success was becoming the Asian c ...

's course record from 2006 was the target for the women's race, with the Ethiopia duo and training partners Aberu Kebede and

Tirfi Tsegaye Tirfi Tsegaye Beyene (born 25 November 1984) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. She has won the Berlin Marathon, the Paris Marathon (in a course record), the Tokyo Marathon (also in course-record time), and th ...

the leading runners. By the halfway point of the men's race, Mutai, Kimetto,

and Maiyo were still in contention. Mutai pulled away from the pack, along with Kimetto, after 30 km. Kimetto remained close to the leader put never overtook him, leaving Mutai to take the title (and the World Marathon Majors jackpot) by a margin of second with his winning time of 2:04:15 hours.Butcher, Pat (2012-09-30)
Close victory for Mutai but more straightforward for Kebede in Berlin - REPORT
IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-01-31. The times of the Kenyan pair were the fastest recorded that year and the fourth and fifth fastest ever at that point. Despite the fast times of the men's race, some reporters felt the finish to be an anti-climax – both Mutai and Kimetto slowed in the final kilometres and neither pushed the other into a sprint finish, even though they finished one second apart. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

s Ross Tucker remarked that the positions seemed "pre-planned" between the training partners.Tucker, Ross (2012-10-02)
Geoffrey Mutai misses world record in an intriguing Berlin Marathon
''The Guardian''. Retrieved on 2013-01-31. Geoffrey Kipsang comfortably took third place with a time of 2:06:12 for his debut run. The top nine men were all Kenyan, with Japan's Masakazu Fujiwara rounding out the top ten places. The women's race was also dominated by two East African training partners. Aberu Kebede (winner in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

) and Tirfi Tsegaye were unchallenged after the halfway point. In contrast to the men's race, Aberu pulled away on her own and recorded a best of 2:20:30 hours to win (over a minute short of the course record). Runner-up Tirfi also improved her best (2:21:19) and Olena Shurkhno took third place some two minutes later with a Ukrainian record time. Swiss athletes

Marcel Hug Marcel Eric Hug (born 16 January 1986) is a Paralympian athlete from Switzerland competing in category T54 wheelchair racing events. Hug, nicknamed 'The Silver Bullet', has competed in four Summer Paralympic Games for Switzerland, winning two ...

and

Sandra Graf Sandra Graf (born 9 December 1969) is a Swiss wheelchair athlete. Graf competes in wheelchair races of a variety of distances. Life Graf has twice put her career on hold to have children. In 2003 a lung embolism set back her training and kept h ...

topped the

wheelchair race Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, amputees, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy and partially sighted (when combined with another ...

rankings. The

in-line skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

competitions were won by Ewen Fernandez and

Sabine Berg The Sabines (; lat, Sabini; it, Sabini, all exonyms) were an Italic peoples, Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Aniene, Anio before the founding of Ro ...

, respectively.

Results

Elite results

;Elite men ;Elite women Berlin marathon 2012 buelowstrasse between kilometers 36 and 37 30

Wheelchair

Flickr - CarolineG2011 - Great guns at the T54 London Paralympic marathon

;Men ;Women

In-line skating

;Men ;Women

References

;Official results
39. BMW BERLIN-MARATHON 2012
SCC Events. Retrieved on 2011-10-06.

External links

Official Berlin Marathon website
{{World Marathon Majors 2012

Berlin Marathon 2012 in Berlin