Ethiopian woman impresses in Germany as Benard Biwott wins men’s race in 2:05:54 and Georgina Schwiening improves to 2:25:46 to go No.9 on UK all-time rankings
Hawi Feysa took the 41st Mainova Frankfurt Marathon with a course record of 2:17:25.
The 25-year-old Ethiopian ran 2:17:25 to improve the former women’s record by 1:45. It was also the 12th fastest performance this year.
Second-placed Kenyan Magdalyne Masai ran a big personal best of 2:18:58 and also finished inside the old course record of 2:19:10. Ethiopia’s Shuko Genemo was third with 2:22:37.
“The record was my goal and everything went perfectly,” said Feysa. “After 25km I had enough energy left to run away from the group. I was very happy with my race plan. The atmosphere along the course helped me a lot. You can certainly run 2;16 on this fast course.”
The men’s race had its surprise as well as 22-year-old Kenyan debutant Benard Biwott triumphed won in 2:05:54 as he crossed the line in Frankfurt’s Festhalle.
Benard Biwott (Sailer/PhotoRun)
Ethiopians Gossa Challa and Lencho Tesfaye took second and third with 2:07:35 and 2:08:02 respectively.
British runners achieved a string of great results in Frankfurt with Georgina Schwiening being the fastest European with a PB of 2:25:46 in 11th as the former world junior duathlon champion moved to No.9 on the UK all-time marathon rankings.
In total, seven British women finished inside the top 25 as Louise Small clocked a PB of 2:29:33, Tracy Barlow ran 2:35:51 and, in her marathon debut, Beth Kidger clocked 2:37:40 with Naomi Mitchell running 2:38:37.
In the men’s race, George James of Dorking and Mole Valley also ran a big PB with 2:11:19.
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