Haile Gebrselassie wins Almería Half Marathon in 61:46 (© Carlos Barba)
Amsterdam, The NetherlandsHaile Gebrselassie announced this afternoon that he will run the 30th edition of the ING Amsterdam Marathon on 16 October 2005.
It will be the 32 year-old’s second serious Marathon. He made his senior debut in the 2002 London Marathon, when he ran the current Ethiopian national record of 2:06:35, to take third place.
Gebrselassie, who during his illustrious track career won four World and two Olympic 10,000m titles, has been suffering from persistent Achilles tendon problems, which caused him to miss out on this year’s London Marathon.
The winner of the World Half Marathon title in 2001 with a best time of 60:03 (he ran 59:41 on a downhill course in Lisbon in 2002), Gebrselassie won two Half Marathons in Spain early this year (61:46, 30 Jan; 61:33 – 6 Feb) before taking his decision to miss the London Marathon, and yesterday in Manchester, England raced away to a fine 10km win in 27:25.
Wim van Hemert and IAAF
Click here for Manchester race report
Editor’s note – a feature interview with Gebrselassie will be published on the IAAF website tomorrow, Tuesday 24 May
