Markus Brennauer and Hugo Mann with a furious marathon final

Created: 04/06/2022, 19:30

By: Paul Hopp

Strong performance in Hanover: Markus Brennauer from TSV Penzberg at the 2022 Marathon Championships. He won bronze in his class.

© Conny Lechner-Brennauer

The medals seemed to be out of reach for Markus Brennauer and Hugo Mann at the Marathon Championships.

But then the two Penzbergers showed fighting spirit in the finish.

Hanover – At the German marathon championship, there were several top results from a district perspective.

Markus Brennauer (42) and Hugo Mann (69), both from TSV Penzberg, won bronze in their age groups.

Both only secured the podium place in the final phase.

Christian Scholz (52) from Peitingen won silver.

Markus Brennauer fights his way to the bronze medal

At the finish, Markus Brennauer was very happy.

Practically in the last meters he had conquered the bronze place in the age group M40.

After 2:28:39 hours for the 42.195 kilometers - a truly impressive time - the Penzberger crossed the finish line.

Right after the start he was behind the two fastest women, Domenika Mayer (LG Telis Finanz Regensburg) and Rabea Schöneborn (SSC Berlin/Marathon Team).

“The pacemakers of the two wanted to start at 2:27 hours.

It was a little quicker than I had planned, but I knew that in this group I could just switch off my head and run with it," reported the 42-year-old from Penzberger.

Also in this group was Andreas Hecht (DJK Weiden), one of his direct competitors in the M40 class.

With around 15 other men, the group ran kilometer after kilometer in 3:29 minutes each.

Markus Brennauer chokes on the gel

At kilometer 25, however, the group broke up because Domenika Mayer's pacemaker accelerated minimally.

“When I was taking my carb gel and choking slightly, I slowed down for 10 seconds.

When I focused on the runners in front of me again, I noticed that there was a small gap of five meters,” reported Brennauer.

He couldn't close this gap anymore and continued to run together with Schöneborn, her pacemaker Steffen Uliczka and Hecht.

The four stayed together for about ten kilometers.

After the 35-kilometer mark, Brennauer lost contact with his three fellow runners.

"Mentally I wasn't up to par and had doubts as to whether I could keep up the pace." So he lost 100 meters relatively quickly.

But after 38 kilometers he noticed that Hecht was also having problems and the gap was slowly melting away.

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When the Croatian Matea Parlov Kostro passed Brennauer shortly before the 41-kilometer mark, he clung to her heels.

"Although the Croatian was significantly faster than me at the time, I was able to keep up with her with surprising ease," says Brennauer.

A minute later both had overtaken Hecht - and Brennauer accelerated again and ran the last kilometer in 3:25 minutes.

He was 49 seconds ahead of Hecht, who was struggling hard in the last kilometer.

Brennauer was almost two minutes short of the gold medal that went to Christian Looschen (BV Garrel).

Hugo Mann with a furious final sprint

Like Brennauer, club colleague Hugo Mann (68) hadn't expected to win the bronze medal until shortly before the end.

But then another chance opened up: “200 meters from the finish I saw Wolfgang Rühlemann in front of me, one of my competitors in the M65 age group.

I knew I still had to overtake him.” So Hugo Mann set out for the final sprint.

Although he had already been on the road for more than 3:10 hours, the 68-year-old from Penzberg still had the necessary strength.

With a brilliant final sprint, he passed his opponent from Lower Saxony and distanced him by five seconds.

With a time of 3:11:51 hours, Mann celebrated a successful comeback after more than six years of abstinence from the marathon course.

From 2014 to 2016, the doctor of finance won the DM title in his respective age group.

In 2016 he won with a personal best of 2:49:48 hours - at that time the DM took place in Frankfurt/Main.

Hugo Mann (in the orange jersey), runner from TSV Penzberg, at the 2022 Marathon Championships in Hanover.

© Conny Lechner-Brennauer

“Because I was missing three weeks of preparation in training, I took it a little easier.

I did notice the training deficit from the back, but it went surprisingly well,” said the Penzberger.

He crossed the half marathon mark after 1:32:55 hours, almost a minute slower than Rühlemann.

This gap did not change until the 40-kilometre mark.

But Rühlemann started too aggressively and slowed down over the last two kilometers and even had to go.

Mann was also slower, but was able to minimize the gap significantly, so that he still got the medal.

Gold went to Peter Eckes (LG Bad Soden-Sulzbach-Neuenhain) in the M65 age group with a time of 2:58:20 hours.

Christian Scholz wins silver in the M50 class

Christian Scholz had his doubts during the race: "I was never sure I could keep going," reported Peitinger.

But the 52-year-old persevered – and with a time of 2:47:01 hours he undercut his previous personal record by a full six minutes.

In the M50 class he won the silver medal behind top favorite Markus Mey (TV Konzen/2:37:35).

Scholz had not really expected such a successful performance.

"I started much too fast." He passed the half-marathon mark after 1:21:45 hours.

He was significantly faster than at the 2021 half marathon in Augsburg, when he won the Bavarian M50 title in 1:22:16 hours.