Kenyan Rutto triumphs at the Salzburg Marathon

The 14th running festival in the city of Mozart, for the first time with start and finish in front of the magnificent Mirabell Palace, ended with the marathon victories of the Kenyan Hosea Kiprotich Rutto and the Hungarian Olympic participant Tünde Szabo, who in a dramatic final only a few hundred meters before had taken the lead towards the goal. A total of 6,457 runners from around 70 nations had registered for one of the numerous competitions as part of the "Get active days", which experienced an atmospheric highlight on Sunday with the main competitions.

The Kenyan Hosea Kiprotich Rutto is the big winner of the 14th Salzburg Marathon. The 25-year-old, who started as the favourite, pulled away from his compatriot Simon Njeri in the last quarter and crossed the finish line in 2:17:49 hours. This is the fastest winning time in the city of Mozart since Eliud Kiplagat's course record in 2013. Simon Njeri (2:23:19 hours) and Abraham Limo (2:25:53 hours) had to pay tribute to the high pace of the first half of the race in the final phase, but secured positions two and three.

Fast first half marathon

In good running conditions with temperatures around 11°C and an overcast sky, which held back the raindrops until midday, the starting signal for the marathon and the Sparkasse half-marathon was fired for the first time in the history of the Salzburg marathon at Mirabellplatz. A nimble leading group quickly formed, in which the three Kenyan favorites received support from the Eritrean half marathon runner Filmon Abraham. The quartet achieved the intermediate time at ten kilometers in a time of 31:15 minutes. When Abraham secured his victory in the half marathon at Mirabellplatz in a time of 1:06:34 hours, the Kenyan trio started the second lap with a split time of 1:06:36 hours. The three top runners maintained a consistently high pace up to 30 kilometers, and the course record set by their compatriot Eliud Kiplagat seemed within reach.

In the last quarter of the marathon, the previous race structure in combination with the slightly disturbing wind from the north-west took its toll. Limo and Njeri could no longer keep up with Rutto, who broke away as a soloist and completed his winning run in a time of 2:17:49 hours. He achieved the fourth fastest marathon winning time in the history of the running festival in the city of Mozart. "I'm overjoyed that I was able to celebrate my second marathon victory here," said the winner, adding praise: "It was a great event, there was a great atmosphere." At the end of January, Rutto already had the Pune Marathon in India in one time of 2:12:18 hours.

Herbert Reiter best Austrian

The South Tyrolean Helmuth Mair (SG Eisacktal Marathon) reached the finish line in fourth place with great rejoicing. His joy was based on a new personal best of 2:33:55 hours - and that at the age of 46. "I caught a good group of half marathon runners in the first half of the race and then pulled through," says Mair.

Almost two minutes behind the Russian Sergei Sorotkin, Herbert Reiter (Bad Wimsbach Neydharting) finished sixth as the best Austrian. "Fantastic! My goal was a time under 2:40 hours and I achieved it. I started a bit too fast and therefore missed my personal best by a hair's breadth, but it was a great experience,” summed up a visibly enthusiastic Herbert Reiter. The Upper Austrian, who finished in a time of 2:39:44 hours, was at the start of the Salzburg Marathon for the first time and overtook Alex Knoblechner (Lauftreff Nussdorf) on the second lap, who, however, was unable to finish the marathon and, according to the regulations of the Salzburg Marathon was automatically included in the Sparkasse Half Marathon ranking. The best Salzburger in the marathon was Lukas Obersamer (TrumerTriTeam) in eleventh place in a time of 2:43:00 hours.

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