Berlin marathon 2007: records, feats, and miracles

The marathon of Berlin 2007 will be remembered in the years to come. Particularly, two names will be linked forever to such event: Haile Gebrselassie and Roberto Madrazo.

Haile Gebrselassie
The Ethiopian runner Haile Gebrselassie, 34, is undoubtedly one of the best known men in the athletics field. He has participated in many international championships in athletics, and also in three versions of the Olympic games (Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004), winning gold medals in two of them. In recent years, he has become one of the most prominent people in road racing and marathon, winning constantly and breaking time records for disciplines in which he performs. Gebrselassie was by far the favorite athlete to win the marathon that took place on September 30, 2007 in Berlin, and he definitely didn't disappoint: not only he won the competition, but he broke the world record with a time of 2:04:26, defeating the record of 2:04:55 set by Paul Tergat on the same course in 2003.

Gebrselassie is now considered the fastest marathoner in the world.

Roberto Madrazo
On the other hand, Roberto Madrazo, 55, used to be quite an unknown individual in the athletics world. In fact, he is best known for his career as a politician in Mexico, and for running for president of such country in 2006, being defeated by the current head of state Felipe Calderon.

Nevertheless, Roberto Madrazo is also an amateur marathon runner and he has participated in some competitions around the world. His participation in Berlin was, for instance, outstanding: He crossed the finish line in 2:40:57, wearing a red jacket, a red baseball hat, and black tights. He ranked 146th overall (out of 40,000 contestants) and first place in his category (55-59 years old). Surprisingly good for an amateur runner who timed 3:44:00 and 3:39:00 in two other marathons earlier this year.

The most incredible and amazing part of Madrazo's performance came after he hit 20 kilometer mark. Until that point, his time was of 1:42:42, which means that his average pace was more or less of 5 minutes per kilometer, or about 12 km/h. Mysteriously, there is no track of Madrazo in the checkpoints located at the 25 and 30 kilometer marks, but his records reappeared when he hit the 35 kilometer checkpoint... only 21 minutes after crossing the 20 kilometer mark!

But how did he achieve that? If he only took 21 minutes to run 15 kilometers, it means that he improved dramatically his pace and speed in that stretch of the course: 7 minutes every 5 kilometers... or about 42.8 km/h!!. That even beats Gebrselassie's performance in the same stretch, who was able to run at an average speed of just 21.4 km/h. It looks that Roberto Madrazo has some supernatural powers that give him enough speed to race against horses as well! Can his supernatural powers be called "taking an illegal shortcut"? Because, coincidentally, the course map shows that the checkpoints at the 20 and 35 kilometer marks are only a few blocks away of each other through a street that was not considered to be ran by marathoners, so that might explain Madrazo's superpowers.

This is a good example of how the dark abilities obtained in politics fit in the sports world.

More information about Madrazo's marathon performance in The Independent.