After a one year hiatus, European 10,000m champion Lonah Chemtai Salpeter from Israel will return to the marathon distance in the Florence Marathon on 25 November, a five-star certified road race by European Athletics Running for All.
Chemtai Salpeter has come to international recognition this season with her exploits on the track and at the shorter road racing distances but she represented Israel for the first time in a global competition in the marathon at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She also represented Israel in the marathon at the IAAF World Championships in London last August.
The 29-year-old’s lifetime best at the marathon stands at a relatively modest 2:40:16 from the 2016 Berlin Marathon but Chemtai Salpeter has improved considerably since then. Not only should she eclipse the Israeli record of 2:35:59, the European-leading mark of 2:25:25 held by European marathon champion Volha Mazuronak from Belarus could be in reach as well.
“After a short recovery period after the European Championships, I started my build up towards the autumn road races. I had three good weeks of altitude training in Font Romeu, France with a successful 10-mile road race,” said Chemtai Salpeter ahead of her return to marathon running.
Chemtai Salpeter also posted on social media that she completed a 40km training run at altitude in an impressive 2:36:25 despite getting stung by a bee.
In terms of her racing, Chemtai Salpeter became the first European winner of the Dam tot Damloop in Zaandam since 2010 last month, winning in a sprint finish in 50:45. She was also the leading European finisher at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Valencia in March, finishing 12th in a national record of 68:58.
“It was successful because I was in a middle of a heavy block of marathon-oriented training and I managed to win the race and to run the last 10km faster than I've ever run in approximately 31:10,” said Salpeter on her win in Zaandam where she clocked one of the fastest ever times by a European runner at the distance.
Salpeter will return to racing on Sunday when she lines up in the Lisbon Half Marathon with the aim of improving her best time down to 67 minutes. She will then finalise her preparations for the Florence Marathon with another stint at altitude in Iten, Kenya.
The women’s course record dates back to 2002 when Slovenia’s Helena Javornik clocked 2:28:15. Other European winners have included well-known domestic runners Anna Incerti (2003), Vincenza Sicari (2006-07) and Giovanna Volpato (2008) while the last European winner in Florence was Ukraine’s Oleksandr Sitkovskyy who won the men’s race in 2013 in 2:09:14.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
The European Athletics Quality Road Race standards act as an assurance for road runners throughout Europe. They distinguish between races that respect the standards and those that haven’t sought certification or assessment. They form the foundation of Running for All, a strong recognisable brand for running activities throughout Europe.
More information on Running for All:
Website: european-running4all.org
Twitter: @runningforall
Contact: [email protected]
More information on the European Running Business Conference:
Registration page: https://registration.mylaps.com/business-conference
Contact: [email protected]