FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GENERALI MUNICH MARATHON:

Kenyan debutant Nehemiah Kipyegon and Ethiopian newcomer Asmare Assefa
win in Munich

Kenyan debutant Nehemiah Kipyegon took the 38th edition of the GENERALI
MUNICH MARATHON, beating his challengers by a huge margin while also
fighting against windy and rainy conditions. Taking into account the wet
weather during the second half of the race the 26 year-old showed an
impressive performance and clocked a highly respectable 2:10:02. In a race
without pacemakers he was in the lead throughout and achieved the fourth
fastest winning time in the history of the event. Nehemiah Kipyegon was
more than five minutes ahead of Siyum Tola. The Ethiopian ran his first
marathon as well and finished in 2:15:29. Kenya's Benard Chumba was third
in 2:19:00.

Running her first race in Europe Ethiopia's newcomer Asmare Assefa won the
race in 2:29:44. The 26 year-old clocked a personal best and the second
fastest winning time of the GENERALI MUNICH MARATHON. Kenya's Shamilah
Kipsiror was second in 2:34:01 and Gelane Senbete of Ethiopia followed in
third with 2:35:44.

Organisers of the GENERALI MUNICH MARATHON registered a record number of
almost 28,000 entries from 120 nations including events at shorter
distances. Among them were 6,250 marathon runners.

"Today we witnessed a superb event with an impressive entry record and we
have further established the international standing of the GENERALI MUNICH
MARATHON. We hope that we can continue staging this race," said Race
Director Gernot Weigl, who also pointed out the huge financial benefit the
marathon generates for the city of Munich. It is estimated that this is in
the region of twelve million Euro.

Nehemiah Kipyegon, who had recently improved his half marathon PB to 60:34
in Copenhagen, took the lead right after the start with four runners
following behind him. Without any pacemakers he then reached the half
marathon point in 64:13. At this point only Siyum Tola and William Kibor of
Kenya were still behind him. However Kibor dropped back soon after half
way. The Kenyan suffered badly with muscle problems and later finished well
behind in 2:26:13. In a duel of two debutants Tola could not hold on for
long. When Kipyegon ran sub 3:00 kilometre splits between 24 and 26k the
Ethiopian was beaten. "He did not help pacing, so I decided to make a
move," said Nehemiah Kipyegon, who lives and trains in Keringet which is in
between Nairobi and Eldoret. "This is my biggest career win so far. I think
I can run times of around 2:05 in the future."

In the women's race four runners passed the 10k mark in 34:54. Running
without pacemakers as well Shamilah Kipsiror did most of the pacing. While
Ethiopians Gelane Senbete and Gadise Negasa were dropped Asmare Assefa
stayed behind the Kenyan. When the two passed the half marathon point in
73:34 they were almost a minute ahead already. With less than ten
kilometres to go Assefa finally passed Kipsiror and quickly build a big
lead. The Kenyan was so exhausted that she collapsed after crossing the
finish line and needed medical treatment.

"I was able to stay behind Shamilah for a long period and it went very well
for me. However it was getting difficult when the rain turned stronger at
around 27k. I think in good weather conditions I would have been three
minutes faster," said Asmare Assefa. "I would like to come back to Munich
for this race next year."

More information about the GENERALI MUNICH MARATHON is available at:
www.generalimuenchenmarathon.de

###