RACE REPORT - HAMBURG MARATHON
JONATHAN WYATT

Hamburg is quite a happening city, moving forward on acultural level as well as the import/export hub for which it is famous. Massive construction projects that dwarf the scale of the reconstructed Potsdamer Platz in Berlin define this city as moving swiftly into the forefront of the modern EU in the not toodistant future.

In this setting is the Hamburg Marathon. Now in its18th year and taking in some of the best parts of Hamburgs theatre, historical and waterfront districts.People ask me why go run a marathon across the other side of the world? Well, when you want to run fast, you need a flat course - Hamburg is very flat (some small rises in the first 7k and again around 38k) and fast non camber road surface makes good running.

The field is good. A lot of runners with best times of 2hr09-2hr 13 make this a good race to sit in the pack with other runners wanting to run the same pace.

Pace makers set the pace, for this years race because Julio Rey the record holder was running, he had 2 pacemakers and the following group which numbered 20 for the first 15km had a pacemaker also.

Good weather conditions, this is a hard one to predict but the temperature was perfect for running, cool about 11-14 degrees for the race. The only problem this year was a headwind which became quite strong in the second half and made for a tough run to the finish which is reflected in the second half splits for most of the top runners.

As a bonus this race boasts some fantastic crowd support, not to be underestimated when you are dragging your ass at 35km! Crowds lined the streets the entire journey.

My preparation had been pleasing leading up to the Marathon with a solid 5km road race in San Diego 2 weeks prior and a strong 10km road race in Germany 8 days before running 28min26sec for 6th place.

The race start was at 9am and has 3 separate starting areas to accommodate the 20000 plus runners, skaters, and wheelchair athletes. Everything looked good and a large group of athletes formed after 5km to run together. The pace was good the only problem in a large bunch is when you come to drink stations, unfortunately the volunteers hadn't been briefed on how fast the runners are coming and some of the drinks were missed because you just can't see them if they are not placed prominently or passed to you. At 10km I turned to grab my drink missed it on the table and when the next table had been placed further out on to the course I ploughed into it. Fortunately the table came off worse than I did and it simply collapsed with drinks flying everywhere and I carried on - would have made a great photo. When the bunch split up it was easier to grab my drinks but stomach problems again made it difficult to keep liquids down.

Crunch time in the race came at 25km the main bunch had split up and I was in a smaller bunch which split again and I was running in 9th place. Over the last 10km I picked up 2 positions but the head wind was taking its toll on the field. The winner on the day was Julio Rey, back from a drugs suspension and breaking his own course record in a fantastic time of 2hr 07min 27sec. Kenyans filled the next 3 spots with a 4 minute gap between first and second places, a Polish athlete, another Kenyan and I came home in 7th position for a Personal Best time of 2hr13min 00sec. Knocking 1min 20sec off the previous best. I was hoping I might get the marathon selection standard for Athens (2hr 12min) but while I felt strong right up to 30km I started to struggle in the wind for the next stretch.

Very happy I made the long trip to Hamburg, as I put myself in the best possible position to run fast and sometimes on the day it either happens or it doesn't in spite of all the best preparation.

cheers
j