Makau and Kebede battle the rain to take World Marathon Majors race

Berlin, Germany: Patrick Makau (Kenya) and Aberu Kebede (Ethiopia) had to battle the elements before taking victory at the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON. They were rewarded with 25 points each in the World Marathon Majors (WMM) series. Since both of them collected their first WMM points in their careers they have no significant impact on the current 2009-2010 series. This one will most likely be decided at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, which takes place on 10th October. The ING New York City Marathon on 7th November will then be the final event of the 2009-2010 series.

So often in the past running conditions had been ideal at the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON. But Sunday appeared to be the opposite with steady and partly heavy rain, a slight wind and a cool starting temperature of 12° Celsius. In what were the worst conditions for more than 20 years during a real,- BERLIN-MARATHON Patrick Makau still achieved a remarkable time of 2:05:08, winning by just two seconds from his fellow-countryman Geoffrey Mutai. Ethiopia's Bazu Worku was third with 2:05:25. Mutai and Worku also collected their first WMM points (15 and 10 points). It was the first time that three runners clocked sub 2:06 times in the history of the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON.

In the women's race Aberu Kebede won in 2:23:58. She was exactly a minute ahead of fellow-Ethiopian Bezunesh Bekele (2:24:58) while Japan's Tomo Morimoto took third (2:26:10). Kebede and Bekele are now in a joint fifth place in the 2009-2010 WMM series with 25 points, but leader Liliya Shobukhova (Russia) has already collected 60.