Posted: July 26, 2007

Athletics: Dieter Baumann gives it one more try at Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon

Olympic Champion Dieter Baumann will run the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon on 28th October. Four years ago Baumann had officially ended his carreer, during which he had won the Olympic gold medal in Barcelona’s 5,000 m final in 1992 but had failed to complete a marathon. Dieter Baumann has never stopped running since then and has taken part in a number of road races. Though his training is of course less intense than in former times he is still in fine form. When Dieter Baumann ran his highly anticipated marathon debut in Hamburg in 2002 it turned out to be a major disappointment. He gave up after 34 kilometres and did not try again. None the less the aim of running and completing a marathon has never disappeared. “Obviously today I am a fun runner, running is my hobby,” the 42 year-old explains. But he also says: “You know that I am ambitioned and that I still like running fast.” Baumann also said that after dropping out in Hamburg the chapter of marathon running had never been closed for him. Asked about times Baumann remained relatively reserved. But he thinks that a result of about 2:40 hours should be possible. Running for various charties he will collect 1,000 Euros (about 1,350 US Dollar) for each minute he goes sub 3:00 hours. If he could run 2:40 on the flat course of the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon that would generate 20,000 Euros. Organisers experience high demand from fun runners While the defending champion Wilfred Kigen (Kenya) will go for a hattrick on 28th October the organisers of the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon experience a much higher interest from fun runners as well. Compared to the same time last year entry figures for Germany’s oldest city marathon race are up by 15 percent. In 2006 the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon had a record number of 11,230 entries. So it looks again very much like a participation record. Since a marathon relay will be included in the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon again overall entry figures are even higher up compared to last year. “Altogether we have about 20 percent more entries. We had hoped to improve slightly on last year’s figures but did not expect such high demand. This is a fantastic development,” said Race Director Jo Schindler. Online registration for the 26th Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon is available at: www.frankfurt-marathon.com. For more information please visit www.frankfurt-marathon.com. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest