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Mass sprints brought the decision about the winner of the 32nd real,-

BERLIN-MARATHON for the inline skaters. The Italian Luca Saggiorato got to

the finish with a flimsy winning margin and in a world class time of 1:01:21

hours. In the women’s race Briggyte Mendez of Colombia won in 1:10:43 hours,

also a top time. These were the fastest winning times in Berlin since 2000.

Best German skater was Nico Wieduwilt (Gera) finishing 19th in 1:01:21 and

Michaela Neuling (Gera), finishing 16th in 1:10:44.

The real,- BERLIN-MARATHON with its 8.098 skaters once again confirmed its

position as the biggest skating marathon in the world. About 300,000

spectators watched the race at the 42.195 k long race through the city

centre of Berlin. Start and finish were close to the Brandenburg Gate.

„300,000 people made sure that along the course the atmosphere was wonderful

and that carried the skaters to the finish with really fast times,“ said a

happy Alexander Uphues, who is responsible for the inline skaters at

SCC-RUNNING, after the race.

The race developed to a thriller with beautiful weather conditions and

numerous break aways. But in this world class field nobody could break away

decisively from the leading group. So it came to a great mass sprint on the

last stretch, which ended with an Italian triple victory. It was the first

Italian victory at the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON of the inline skaters. Luca

Saggiorato finished in 61:21 and it was the third fastest time ever in

Berlin. Runner up was his countryman Francesco Zangarini, and third was

Massimiliano Presti. The first seven skaters finished with the same.

In the women’s race the group kept together until the finish. Briggyte

Mendez came through to win in 1:10:43 ahead of Brittany Bowe (USA) and Julie

Glass (USA). All three Skaters finished with the same time. “The real,-

BERLIN-MARATHON was very nice, but it was a hard fight on the long home

straight,” said Briggytte Mendez.

The real,- BERLIN-MARATHON also was the final event of the World-Inline-Cup

(WIC). But already before the race the two winners had been decided:

Massimiliano Presti and Laura Lardani (both Italy).