Posted: April 1, 2007

Athletics (RRW): Fast Times At Berlin Half

From David Monti © 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com Patrick Makau of Kenya and Benita Johnson of Australia won today's 27th Vattenfall Berlin Half-Marathon in fast times. Makau, who ran 59:13 at Ras al Khaimah last February, became the third man to break the 59 minute barrier on a record-standard course, breaking the tape at Berlin in 58:56, a course record. It was also the fastest-ever half-marathon run on German soil. His was the fastest half-marathon which was not a world record. "I'm happy to have broken the course record and very pleased with how things went for me in Berlin," said Makau in a press release after the race. "The course is very good and I'm sure that the world record can be broken here." Finishing second was Makau's compatriot Francis Kibiwott in a personal best 59:26. Evans Cheruiyot, also of Kenya, finished third in 59:48. Johnson, the Australian record holder for the marathon, prevailed over home-country favorite, Irina Mikitenko, in the women's race, 1:08:47 to 1:09:46. "It was hard running alone for much of the race and I made sure I drank enough because it was warm," said Johnson who incorporated today's race in her build-up for the Flora London Marathon on April 22. "The wind also made things tough. But now I've run the Berlin course, I know how fast it is." Defending champion and course record holder, Edith Masai of Kenya, finished fourth in 1:12:03 after running with Johnson for the first 7 km. She complained of stomach problems, as did third place finisher, Luminita Zaituc (1:11:56). Event organizers, SCC-EVENTS, reported that a total of 22,048 participants from 70 countries took part, including in-line skaters and hand bikers (18,531 runners entered the race). Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest