INJURY FORCES MAKAU OUT OF BERLIN MARATHON
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2013 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - Used with permission. - Used with permission. 

(13-Sep) -- Organizers of the BMW Berlin Marathon reported this morning that world record holder Patrick Makau has withdrawn from their race, scheduled for Sunday, Sept., 29, with a knee injury.  Makau's management team verified the news just one hour later.

"I wanted to complete and I remained highly focused and positive, but after discussing my options with my management team, I've realized that I can't race unless I am healthy and prepared to perform at my very best," Makau said through a statement provided by his manager, Zane Branson of IAC Athletics. "I trust the doctor and I need to focus on recovering from this problem."

Makau has "inflammation in his left knee," organizers said, adding that doctors at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, who diagnosed the problem, said he needed to rest his knee completely until the inflammation subsides. Branson said that Makau's training for Berlin had been excellent.

"Over the past several months the quality of Patrick’s training was at high levels and my impressions while in Kenya during month of July left me believing that something really special would likely happen in Berlin on 29 September, especially as Patrick's relaxed and positive attitude with regards to his training had me truly optimistic," Branson said in an e-mail message.

Makau won in Berlin, twice, including his world record run in 2011 where he ran 2:03:38.  Makau had planned to challenge his own world mark in this year's race, running against compatriot Wilson Kipsang, the 2012 Olympic Marathon bronze medalist.

"I intended to attack my own world record in Berlin but now the first thing on my mind is to fully recover from this injury so I can return to training," Makau added.

The BMW Berlin Marathon is part of the World Marathon Majors (WMM) series, and is the opening event of the WMM fall season, followed by the Bank of America Chicago Marathon (Oct. 13), and ING New York City Marathon (Nov. 3).  Berlin is Europe's second largest marathon behind the Virgin London Marathon; last year's race recorded 34,377 finishers.


ENDS