Two of Welkom’s top marathon runners will be taking part in the 2023 annual Berlin Marathon, which is celebrating its 49th occurrence in the capital of Germany.
This race, held on the streets of Berlin during the last week of September, and which has been held annually since 1974, is scheduled to be held on Sunday, 24 September.
Nkhetheni Masupa of Team Vitality and Louis Fourie of Goudveld Multi Sport will be doing the Goldfields proud when they take on the 42.2 km flat course, which regularly produces fast performances.
Welkom’s Masupa is one of the pair known nationally as the famous Team Vitality Twins.
The Vitality Twins have so far successfully delivered on their mandate of both acting as pace-setters for their respective 21 km, delivering times below 90 and 105 minutes as the designated pacing buses.
This will be Masupa’s first attempt at the Berlin Marathon.
“I combined its preparations together with the Two Oceans and Comrades Ultramarathons, where I obtained silver personal bests in both.
“My time’s were 3:53 and 6:54, respectively. I did the Rand Water Vaal Marathon this past Sunday, 3 September, in a superb time of 2:47,” says Masupa.
He explains the concept of pace-setting as when top runners are given the responsibility to lead a group of runners, and have them comfortably finish a certain distance within a specific time.
“I have paced runners to finish a 42.2 km distance in sub three hours,” he says.
On the other hand, the Berlin Marathon will be Fourie’s fourth major city marathon.
The marathon world record has been broken in Berlin on 12 occasions.
It is one of the six marathon majors and is known as the fastest course among its peers. It is a qualifier for the popular Boston Marathon that will be run in April 2024.
Eliud Kipchoge won the 48th edition of the Berlin Marathon with an incredible world record of 2:01. The 37-year-old Kenyan improved his personal best by exactly half a minute.
In 2022, Tigist Assefa also ran a sensational course record.
Starting as an outsider with a previous personal best of 2:34, the Ethiopian ran the race of her life in excellent weather conditions and won in 2:15.
- The six world marathon majors are the Tokyo Marathon, the Boston Marathon, the London Marathon, the Berlin Marathon, the Chicago Marathon, and the New York City Marathon.
