A Romanian runner finished on the 64th place out of 13 000
contestants at this year’s edition of the prestigious Athens Marathon.
Roland Unterweger ran the 42 195 meter long distance
in two hours, 52 minutes and 46 seconds, probably the best result for Romania in the
history of the competition.
The 29-year-old member of the Kipkelenge Running Team from Arad (Western Romania) started running three years ago and
participated to several competitions this year in Paris ,
Salzburg , Budapest
or Berlin .
“Thank you all for the wishes and good thoughts. I hug you”,
Unterweger wrote on his Facebook page a few hours after the competition as a
response to his friends congratulations.
The second Romanian to cross the finish line was 41-year-old
Adrian Petruţ from Bucharest ,
in three hours, 28 minutes and 33 seconds, on the 669th place. He is a member
of the Ro Club Maraton, the first Romanian club of amateur marathon runners.
Other three Romanian athletes managed to get in the top
1000: Alexandru Vişan (742nd place), Matei Cristian (944, Ro Club Maraton) and
Virgiliu Badea (991).
At the 32nd Athens Marathon – the Authentic, Romania was
represented by 43 runners, including 13 women. The youngest Romanian
participant is 19 years old; the oldest was born in 1958.
According to legend, the competition it covers the same
ground that the Athenian messenger Phiedippides ran when he brought news of
victory from the battlefield of Marathon in
490 BC.
The Athens Marathon is recognized as the original marathon
course and it was the same course used in the 2004 Olympics held in Athens .
This year’s winner is Felix Kipchirchir Kandie from Kenya , with a
new record of record of two hours, 10 minutes and 37 seconds. Women’s race was
won also by a Kenyan runner, Naomi Jepkogei Maiyo (2:41.06).
Photo: Romanian runner Roland Unterweger after the
competition, with his wife, Marina Anca
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