Kenya: Kenyan runners take men's, women's titles at Berlin Marathon

Kenyan runners won both the men and women’s titles at the 2015 BMW Berlin Marathon in Germany on Sunday, with Eliud Kipchoge clinching the men’s title and Gladys Cherono the women’s title.

Kipchoge again proved himself to be the pre-eminent marathon runner of recent years when he won in a 2015 world-leading time of 2 hours, 4 minutes and 1 second.

Kipchoge took his record to five wins out of six marathon outings since his victorious debut over the classic distance when he won at the 2013 Hamburg Marathon.

Since then, he has notched up triumphs at world famous marathons in Rotterdam, Chicago and London before his win on Sunday in the German capital, where he also suffered his only marathon loss when finishing second in the 2013 race.

According to world athletics governing body, IAAF, the finishing time wasn’t the world record that everyone had hoped for, and was the main talking point before the race after two successive world records in the 2013 and 2014 Berlin races.

But that shouldn’t detract from what was a magnificent performance from Kipchoge, who also had to battle with disintegrating shoes from just before the halfway point.

The problems with his shoes are something that will undoubtedly have cost him time, although how much will be a source of much debate among the running community.

Kipchoge’s time was a personal best by four seconds, his previous best also having come in Berlin, and the ninth best performance ever on a record-valid course.

In the women’s event, Kenya’s 2014 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships gold medalist, Gladys Cherono, won in 2 hours, 19 minutes and 25 seconds in only her second competition over the distance.