Mercy Chebwogen runs 2:22:08 on her 30th birthday to break the Copenhagen Marathon record
The debutant took more than a minute off the race record on 10 May; Tadesse Kassa won the men's race in 2:08:26, five seconds outside the course record.
Photograph: The start of the 2008 Copenhagen Marathon, by Kristian Mollenborg from Vanlose - Copenhagen, Denmark, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsMercy Chebwogen had never run a marathon before Sunday. She turned 30 on the day, lined up in Copenhagen with 22,424 other starters, the largest marathon field ever on Danish soil, and won in 2:22:08. That is more than a minute under the previous race record and the fastest marathon ever run in Denmark by a woman. Tigist Gashaw of Bahrain was second in 2:23:07 and Fantu Shugi of Ethiopia third in 2:24:38.
The men's race came down to seconds. Tadesse Kassa of Ethiopia won in 2:08:26, five seconds outside the course record, with Vincent Mutai of Kenya four seconds back in 2:08:30 and Dejene Weyfen of Ethiopia third in 2:09:14. Omar Hassan, running for the World Athletics Refugee Team, was ninth in 2:12:20.
It was 12 degrees and overcast, good marathon weather on the city course. The Danish championships were run inside the race: Valdemar Meiling won the men's title in 2:18:32 from Jacob Dahl, 2:18:50, and Luna Andrea Paltorp the women's in 2:36:56 from Sophie Sode Lorentzen, 2:37:16.
The city is not done with running this year. The World Athletics Road Running Championships come to Copenhagen on 19 and 20 September, and the organisers expect 65,000 people to take part.
A course record on a marathon debut, on a birthday. Some people choose their days well.
Sources: Copenhagen Marathon; Copenhagen Marathon.
