Countdown 10 days to Berlin Marathon - Face2Face Showdown Haile Gebrselassie/Patrick Makau

Haile en route to break his own WR with the current 2:03:59 here in 2008

Patrick was the First to cross the finishing line last year in 2:05:08



Comes 25 September the 38th BMW Berlin Marathon will see the return of 2 champions for a rare showdown between 38-year old Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, who had won 4 times in a row at this flat inner city course including two consecutive world records in which the 2:03:59 he set in 2008 still stands AND defending champion Patrick Makau, 26 of Kenya who became the 7th fastest marathon runner in history (under no conditions) and the fastest marathon runner of the year 2010 when he clocked 2:04:48 in Rotterdam.

This will be Haile Gebrselassie's first full marathon race since his pull-out set back due to a knee injury with 16km remaining during the New York City Marathon last year, his immediate shock announcement to retire after which and subsequently reversed his decision a few days after by saying "Running is in my blood and I decided to continue competing."

Said Patrick Makau about the encounter :
"I trust he will again be very quick here but I will try to focus on my own race,"
"If towards the end we are still together then the strongest one will win,"

Both Haile and Patrick picked this widely considered to be the world's fastest marathon as stepping stone to improve their chances to qualify into the 3 slots in their respective countries at the London Olympics next year.

The 37th real,-Berlin Marathon of last year experienced the worst weather conditions in 20 years with rain and cool starting temperature of 12 deg C which dampened the high expectation of a world record breaker from Patrick Makau and his compatriot Geoffrey Mutai [now the fastest marathoner ever] who both finished neck-n-neck with 2 seconds apart (2:05:08 n 2:05:10)



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It is equally competitive in the women's field which will see the return of world record holder Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain (2:15:25 London 2003), her first 42.195km race after having given birth to her second child, competing with local favourite Irina Mikitenko who won here in 2008 with her PB of 2:19:19 and had twice won the London Marathon

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Some info on Berlin Marathon:
Capacity: 40,000 - Inaugural Race: 1974 - Largest Field : 35,913 finishers in 2008
Estimated number of spectators : 1.5 million
Prize Money: $340,000 ($64,000 each for the male and female champions)

(formally known as real,- BERLIN MARATHON, starting this year BMW is the new main sponsor, similarly for the Frankfurt Marathon) traditionally held on the last Sunday of September.
An IAAF Gold Label Road Race n a component of World Marathon Majors (WMM)

7 World records have been set here :
Men:
1998 - 2:06:05 Ronaldo da Costa (BRA)
2003 - 2:04:55 Paul Tergat (KEN)
2007 - 2:04:26 Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)
2008 - 2:03:59 Haile Gebrselassie ===> Current WORLD RECORD
Women:
1977 - 2:34:48 Christa Vahlensieck (GER)
1999 - 2:20:43 Tegla Loroupe (KEN)
2001 - 2:19:46 Naoko Takahashi (JPN)

Course Record for Women: 2:19:12 Mizuki Noguchi (JPN) 2005