Luminita Talpos winning the Vienna Marathon (© Victah Sailer)
Luminita Talpos will have at least two goals in mind at the Vienna City Marathon next month: to become the first woman to win the event three times, and to again meet Austrian President Heinz Fischer the following day.
The Romanian took back-to-back honours in 2007 and 2008, clocking her personal best of 2:26:43 at the latter. A tradition in Vienna, this year celebrating its 27th edition, is a meeting between the winner’s and the Austrian president the following day at the city’s renowned Hofburg Imperial Palace. Other commitments forced Fischer to cancel the lunch time meeting in 2007, but he kept the date in 2008.
But Talpos, 37, will have to contend with two key competitors who will also be vying for a visit to one of Europe’s most famous state residences. Defending champion Andrea Mayr of Austria will return, while Kenyan Hellen Kimutai, who clocked 2:25:53 when she took the Hamburg Marathon in 2003, the fastest in the field. Kimutai, 32, knows the course as well, having finished second in 2000. Also returning is last year’s runner-up, Derebe Godana of Ethiopia.
To commemorate this year’s 2500th anniversary of the birth of the marathon, this year’s race will also have another unique ‘visitor’, the marathon flame from Marathon, Greece. On the eve of the Athens Marathon each fall, a memorial flame is lit on the former battlefield where Greek messenger Pheidippidis is said to have run to announce the Greek victory over the Persians. In November, representatives of the Vienna Marathon transported the flame in a small lantern back to the Austrian capital, where it will be passed among the runners in the finish area.
Organisers for the IAAF
The Romanian took back-to-back honours in 2007 and 2008, clocking her personal best of 2:26:43 at the latter. A tradition in Vienna, this year celebrating its 27th edition, is a meeting between the winner’s and the Austrian president the following day at the city’s renowned Hofburg Imperial Palace. Other commitments forced Fischer to cancel the lunch time meeting in 2007, but he kept the date in 2008.
But Talpos, 37, will have to contend with two key competitors who will also be vying for a visit to one of Europe’s most famous state residences. Defending champion Andrea Mayr of Austria will return, while Kenyan Hellen Kimutai, who clocked 2:25:53 when she took the Hamburg Marathon in 2003, the fastest in the field. Kimutai, 32, knows the course as well, having finished second in 2000. Also returning is last year’s runner-up, Derebe Godana of Ethiopia.
To commemorate this year’s 2500th anniversary of the birth of the marathon, this year’s race will also have another unique ‘visitor’, the marathon flame from Marathon, Greece. On the eve of the Athens Marathon each fall, a memorial flame is lit on the former battlefield where Greek messenger Pheidippidis is said to have run to announce the Greek victory over the Persians. In November, representatives of the Vienna Marathon transported the flame in a small lantern back to the Austrian capital, where it will be passed among the runners in the finish area.
Organisers for the IAAF
