Zurich Marathon 2012
The countdown to the 10th anniversary of the Zurich Marathon has started and the starting fields for the marathon, Teamrun and 10km cityrun stand. During this Sunday’s Zurich Marathon not only the 8,584 runners will be offered a beautiful landscape and fast route, the spectators will also get to enjoy athletic top performances and numerous attractions.
A marathon combines professional and amateur sports. This is also the case with the Zurich Marathon. While the distance of 42.195 km is already a challenge for the majority of runners, others have a much higher goal. Some are preparing to qualify for the Olympic Games in London in August. Others will try to break European champion Viktor Röthlin’s course record and therefore run for the prestigious victory at the Zurich Marathon. First and foremost, of course, the Kenyan John Kialo Kyui, who made his debut in Europe one year ago as a widely unknown runner and left all his competitors far behind him already at the 30-kilometer mark.
Titleholder Kyui goes for the course record! With his winning time of 2:09.59 hours, Kyui was one and a half minutes under the course record that Viktor Röthlin had set in 2007. This year, Kyui not only wants to defend his title, but also wants to break Röthlin’s record of 2:08.20 hours. Although Kyui was able to confirm his class early this year with a strong performance in Mumbai, defending his title, neither the title defense nor a quest for the course record has already been written in stone. In fact, Kyui will have to face four other Kenyans this year, who all boast a better personal best than himself.
! and will have to go up against strong opponents This strong Kenyan quartet is led by Wilfred Kigen, triple winner of the high stakes Frankfurt Marathon (personal best: 2:07.33). The records show that James Kipkosgei Rotich (2:07.12) is even a little faster as Michael Chege (2:09.12) and Raymond Kandie (2:09.23) are, who can consider themselves part of the extended world class. Therefore the titleholder will not have it easy during this year’s anniversary Zurich Marathon. Especially since David Langat, winner of the 2010 Zurich Marathon, who will be participating again. Also Abraham Tandoi and Daniel Kiptum, holder of the world record of deaf people, have secured their place among the top 3 of the Zurich Marathon in recent years. Plus many unknown athletes will participate, who have already shown their potential in smaller runs and are certainly capable of making their breakthrough like Kyui last year.
Fight to make the Olympic qualifying times and championship titles From the sporting perspective, an excellent run can be expected, especially since the Swiss championship titles are being awarded and Maja Neuenschwander from Bern will attempt to make the Olympic qualifying times. In addition to this top sporting event, there will also be a public festival. The organisers are very happy with the number of registrations for the Zurich Marathon, the Teamrun and the 10km cityrun. By the registration deadline on 11 April 8,584 runners had registered for one of the three competitions. Of those, 3,490 will participate in the Zurich Marathon, 3,204 in the Teamrun and 1,890 sport enthusiasts in the unique 10km cityrun. While the numbers of men participating in the marathon is over four times as high as that of participating women, the difference between the sexes is only minimal in the 10km cityrun, where 987 men will be competing along with 903 women.
The world goes fast – in Zurich! It is no surprise that 90 percent of all registered participants are from Switzerland, followed by participants from Germany, Italy, Austria and the UK. Thanks to runners from 50 countries such as Hong Kong, Malaysia, Australia and North and South America we may very well say that the whole world will be represented at the start of the 10th Zurich Marathon. Also when it comes to age you can see that the fascination for running can be found in all generations. The oldest starter is 76 years old, the youngest participants were born in 2001 and 2002.
A program for the spectators in the city and in the towns around Lake Zurich A diverse program around the event will be offered for spectators and athletes to have a good time. It starts at the start and finish line next to the port Enge, where there is not only a festival tent with various food stands and the spectators platform, but also the ewz lounge with comfortable deckchairs and a children’s playground courtesy of ewz. ZKB will provide the entertainment. Every half hour the MS Etzel will leave as the “Tages-Anzeiger” shuttle ferry to get the spectators from Enge to Tiefenbrunnen and back fast. As in the years before, the Zürigugge Lady Killers will heat up the fans on the intersection of Mythenquai and General-Guisan-Quai. At Bürkliplatz, the Ensemble Schwiizerland will play more rustic music, while the steeldrums band Bollito Misto will provide a rhythmic and exotic musical background. Also in the towns on the lakeside, the party will get started or, in this case, will keep going with Zurich’s mascot the Züri-Leu. At the pier in Zollikon, you can listen to the band Audio Delict. At Küsnacht’s lake road, you can party on with a double feature of Blasanders Ansamble and the steeldrums band Wild Kats.