Patrick Makau sets new Marathon record of 2:03:38

Kenyan Patrick Makau won the 2011 Berlin Marathon on Sunday, the 25th of Sept. His time of two hours, three minutes and 38 seconds was 21 seconds faster than the record set by Haile Gebrselassie on the same course back in 2008.

"In the morning my body was not good but, after I started the race, it started reacting very well. I started thinking about the record. I didn't have any problems in the race. Last year I had some problems with my soles inside my shoe, but today everything went very well." said Makau.

The previous record Haile Gebrselassie failed to finish having experienced apparent stomach problems around the 27km mark.

GEBRSELASSIE'S RECORD AT BERLIN MARATHON
2006 - First in 2:05.56 (fastest time of year)
2007 - First in 2:04.26 (world record)
2008 - First in 2:03.59 (world record)
2009 - First in 2:06.08
2010 - Did not compete
"Gebrselassie, the 38-year-old double Olympic champion at 10,000m, had also been looking to post a fast time and ease the pressure on him to qualify for the Games ahead of strong Ethiopian rivals.
But he found himself forced to step off the road midway through the race as Makau, sensing the Ethiopian great was struggling, upped the pace"....BBC News
Just to give you some idea of the pace, a 2:03:38 Marathon is an average of 4:43 minutes per mile or 2:56 minutes per km.