{"id":2960,"date":"2017-04-07T01:50:43","date_gmt":"2017-04-07T07:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/?p=2960"},"modified":"2017-04-07T01:50:43","modified_gmt":"2017-04-07T07:50:43","slug":"april-gabius-to-duel-in-hannover-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/news\/april-gabius-to-duel-in-hannover-marathon\/","title":{"rendered":"April, Gabius to duel in Hannover Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hannover<\/a><\/p>\n

Kenya\u2019s sub 2:07 runners Philip Sanga and Nicholas Kamakya head the start list of the HAJ Hannover Marathon.<\/p>\n

Course record holder Lusapho April to defend Hannover Marathon<\/h3>\n

However South Africa\u2019s defending champion Lusapho April and Germany\u2019s marathon record holder Arne Gabius are very much in the focus before Sunday\u2019s race. In contrast to the men\u2019s elite field there is a clear favourite in the women\u2019s race: Former Ethiopian Fate Tola, who gained German citizenship last summer, intends to attack the course record of 2:27:07. \u201eWe already have an entry record. Adding the running events at shorter distances entry figures currently point to a final total of more than 22,000 athletes. We would be absolutely delighted if we could achieve this mark,\u201c said Race Director Stefanie Eichel. The HAJ Hannover Marathon is an IAAF Silver Label Road Race.<\/p>\n

Elite race coordinator Christoph Kopp plans a more conservative approach for the men\u2019s race. \u201eWe will instruct pacemakers to go through half way in 65 minutes. I think despite the two Kenyans with personal bests of sub 2:07 we have a well balanced field. So it could get very interesting in the second half,\u201c said Kopp.<\/p>\n

Lusapho April\u2019s course record of 2:08:32 from 2013, which is also his personal best, is not a primary goal for the organisers. However the South African<\/a> thinks different: \u201eThe weather forecast looks good and if the pacemakers are doing well then I want to attack the record. It is some time ago that I ran that fast and it is time now to do it again,\u201c said Lusapho April, who intends to run the World Championships\u2019 marathon in London this August. \u201eI feel fine and my training has gone well. I am in better shape than last year,\u201c said 34 year-old April, who is the record winner of the HAJ Hannover Marathon with three victories. \u201eIt is great to be back in Hannover. This is like second home for me.\u201c<\/p>\n

Arne Gabius\u2019 German record is just one second slower than April\u2019s course record. It was in October 2015 when the 36 year-old clocked 2:08:33 in Frankfurt and took the 27 year-old national record from J\u00f6rg Peter. However after that race Gabius did not finish a marathon again. He dropped out of London a year ago and was then forced to cancel his start at the Olympics due to an injury. It was not before Christmas that he could start running again. \u201eI am happy that I am back after almost a year. I feel fine, but I can not make a projection regarding my time. However it is my goal to finish on the podium,\u201c said Arne Gabius.<\/p>\n

It is likely that April\u2019s and Gabius\u2019 main rivals will be Kenyans Philip Sanga, Nicholas Kamakya and may be Allan Kiprono. Sanga clocked his personal best of 2:06:07 back in 2011 in Frankfurt while Kamakya ran his PB of 2:06:34 in the same year in Amsterdam. Kiprono ran 2:09:38 in Frankfurt in 2014. Sondre Moen might be in for a surprise. The Norwegian has a PB of 2:12:54 and was 19th in the Olympic marathon last year.<\/p>\n

With no other sub 2:30 runner on the start list Fate Tola is the big favourite in the women\u2019s race. After missing out on the Olympic marathon because she received German citizenship some two weeks after the Rio entry deadline Tola bounced back in Frankfurt last autumn. The two-time Vienna City Marathon champion was second with 2:25:42 and clocked her second fastest time ever. After training in Ethiopia she hopes for a similar or even faster time on Sunday. \u201eMy aim is to run the first half in 73 minutes,\u201c said Fate Tola, who looks certain to secure nomination for the World Championships in London. The 29 year-old could well smash the course record. Back in 2013 Ukraine\u2019s Olena Burkovska ran 2:27:07 on Hannover\u2019s very flat course.<\/p>\n

Selected elite runners with personal bests<\/p>\n

Men:
\nPhilip Sanga KEN 2:06:07
\nNicholas Kamakya KEN 2:06:34
\nLusapho April RSA 2:08:32
\nArne Gabius GER 2:08:33
\nAllan Kiprono KEN 2:09:38
\nSondre Moen NOR 2:12:54
\nBoaz Kipyego KEN 2:12:59
\nDaniel da Silva BRA Debut
\nHideyuki Ikegami JPN Debut<\/p>\n

Women:
\nFate Tola GER 2:25:14
\nNataliya Lehonkova UKR 2:30:40
\nTetyana Vernygor UKR 2:31:34
\nMulunesh Asefa ETH 2:34:10
\nBanuelia Katesigwa TAN 2:34:54
\nMaryanne Wanjiru KEN Deb\u00fct
\nEunice Kioko KEN Deb\u00fct<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kenya\u2019s sub 2:07 runners Philip Sanga and Nicholas Kamakya head the start list of the HAJ Hannover Marathon. Course record holder Lusapho April to defend Hannover Marathon However South Africa\u2019s defending champion Lusapho April and Germany\u2019s marathon record holder Arne Gabius are very much in the focus before Sunday\u2019s race. In contrast to the men\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,25,1,46,52],"tags":[97,439,563,715],"class_list":["post-2960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-hannover","category-news","category-pre-event","category-south-africa","tag-97","tag-hannover-marathon","tag-lusapho-april","tag-pre-event-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}