(BBC) Haile Gebrselassie broke the marathon world record in Berlin on Sunday, posting an official time of two hours, four minutes and 26 seconds.
The 34-year-old Ethiopian beat the mark of 2:04:55 set by Kenya’s Paul Tergat in Berlin in September 2003.
Gebrselassie was already 32 seconds inside Tergat’s pace at the 10km mark and went through halfway at 62.29.
“This is wonderful, really special,” said Gebrselassie, who missed the record by 61 seconds in the 2006 race.
The mild weather conditions were almost ideal, with overcast skies for most of the race.
“Today it was perfect,” he added. “It was a little bit windy, but perfect. The spectators were great and gave me great support.”
The fast, flat course wound through nine districts of the German capital with a total inclination of just 30m.
Last year, Gebrselassie had faded in the final six kilometres in the face of a stiff headwind but this year the race organisers made sure there were enough pacesetters to take him through the 30km point.
Gebrselassie won four successive world titles and over 10,000m and set numerous world records on the track before turning to road racing late in his career.
Gete Wami of Ethiopia won the women’s race in a time of 2:23.17.
Dictator Meles Zenawi, the butcher of Addis Ababa, Ogaden, Mogadishu, Anuak… is coming to Washington DC on Monday or Tuesday, according to Ethiopian Review sources.
Meles will be in Washington to meet with State Department officials.
The U.S. House of Representatives will take final action on H.R. 2003 Tuesday, Oct. 2. Meles is expected to make last minute attempt to dissuade members of Congress from voting on the bill.
This could be the last time for Meles to travel to the U.S., because if H.R. 2003 is passed by Congress, all government officials in Ethiopia who are responsible for the massacre of unarmed civilians after the May 2005 elections would be banned from entering the U.S. [read more about H.R. 2003 here].
Ethiopians in Washington DC are ready to give Meles the kind of welcome a blood thirsty dictator deserves — spoiled eggs and tomatoes are being collected.
We will post update on the dictator’s arrival as we get more information.
9:20 PM PST / 12:20 AM EST
The goal is met! Oakland raised $52,195 for Kinijit. Woyanne cadres joined by other groups did every thing they could to derail the Oakland event. The success in Oakland is just one more proof that nothing can stop Kinijit’s freedom train. What do you say Dallas? It is your turn Sunday…
8:10 PM PST / 11:10 PM EST
The Kinijit stronghold Boston, which has raised $40,000, has been beaten by Oakland. So far $42,000 have been collected at the Oakland public meeting that is underway. $8k more to reach the $50,000 goal. A lively discussion with Kinijit leaders is also going on…
Kinijit public meeting in Oakland [photo: Kinijit Oakland-San Jose]
Listen to VOA Amharic Sept. 28, 2007, report on H.R. 2003, including an interview with Prof. Alemayehu GebreMariam. Click here to listen
This is a message to Ato Hailu Shawel, Kinijit Chairman, by Atkilt Asefa.
Click here [Amhairc, pdf]
Atkilt Assefa can be reached at [email protected]
