20160410 - marathon rotterdam

Kipserem steps out of the shadow of the favourites in sunny Coolsingel during NN Rotterdam Marathon

Marius Kipserem was the surprise winner of the 36th edition of the NN Rotterdam Marathon. In the sunny Coolsingel street, the Kenyan athlete stepped out of the favourites’ shadow. With a personal best of 2:06:11 hours, he is now ranked 9th in the world for the season.
Kipserem didn’t know what hit him at the finish line. The sheer number of congratulations and compliments he received left him speechless, but his wide smile told the story. “I’m very happy with this victory,” he said later, quite taken aback by all the attention. A little shyly he raised the victor’s cup above his head, the trophy sparkling in the sunlight.
It was a great day for a marathon, as it wasn’t too windy and it was 9.4 degrees Celsius at the 10am start. All eyes were trained on the Ethiopians Ayele Abshero and Tsegaye Kebede, who were the favourites, having logged personal best times of 2:04:23 and 2:04:38, respectively. Nobody was counting on Kipserem, who had never completed a marathon in less than 2:09:21 hours.


 http://www.nnmarathonrotterdam.org/report-2016/race-report/