Maria Legelli is unstoppable: Just three weeks after her performance in Dresden, she completed another marathon — and won a state title.
Regensburg – Maria Elisa Legelli was aware that this action was not according to the textbook: Running two marathons within three weeks "is risky," says the athlete from Böbing.
But because the 31-year-old felt very good after her performance at the Oberelbmarathon, "I wanted to give it a try". So she started at the Regensburg Marathon - and at the end of the day she had the Bavarian championship title in her pocket.
Maria Legelli wins marathon in Regensburg
Legelli took the women's victory in the competition in which the Bavarian championship was held in superior fashion. With a time of 2:50:04 hours, she also improved her personal best, which she had only set in Dresden (2:51:45).
The lead over the runner-up in the championship standings, 53-year-old Stefanie Borris (MTV 1881 Ingolstadt/3:10:17), was over 20 minutes. Bronze went to Amanda Reiter (3:11:49), who competes for PTSV Rosenheim and is based in the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen. Mona Klein (3:06:13) from SC Moosham appeared as the runner-up in the marathon results list, but she was not registered for the title fights.
Maria Legelli wins with a personal best
Legelli, who competes for the Allgäu running arena, was very satisfied with her performance, not only because of the result: "Everything worked out wonderfully, despite the very warm weather." Her victory of the day "was never out of the question," according to the homepage of the Bavarian Athletics Association.
+Fast on the road: Maria Legelli (red running shirt) on the course of the marathon in Regensburg.
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Legelli passed the ten-kilometer mark after 39:17 minutes, the first half of the 42.195 kilometers she had completed in 1:23:28 hours. Local hero and Olympic participant Corinna Harrer (LG Telis Finanz Regensburg) had to finish the race in the second lap due to injury. Harrer had won both the German and Bavarian titles in 2021, then in Munich – her winning time at the time was 2:43:11 hours.
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For Legelli, the appearance in Regensburg was already the third long-distance competition this year. It started in January with participation in the Marrakesh Marathon in Morocco. There, the IT manager ran the classic distance for the first time under three hours (2:54:19). This was followed by the performance in Dresden and now the run in Regensburg. Before the Upper Elbe Marathon, Legelli completed a half marathon in Forstenried, where she won the women's classification with 1:22:59 hours.
Maria Legelli wins Bavarian marathon title
In the men's race, Andreas Doppelhammer (36) from Gunzenhausen won the Bavarian title. He crossed the finish line in 2:47:39 hours. At kilometer 39, he took the lead by overtaking last year's runner-up Marco Bscheidl (LG Bayerwald). In the overall standings, Doppelhammer finished fourth. The winner of the day was the Italian Helmuth Mair (2:40:42) from SG Eisacktal. In the end, only six men were faster than women's winner Legelli.
+Award ceremony: Maria Legelli won the Bavarian championship title in the marathon.
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The athlete, who lives in Füssen, already carried out a similar campaign – to compete in a running competition shortly after a marathon last June. At that time, she competed just two weeks after a 42.2-kilometer trail run. At that time, however, the second distance measured only ten kilometers (including 120 meters of altitude) at the lake run in the Tannheimer Tal. Legelli won the women's race in 38:33 minutes.
The Regensburg Marathon took place for the 31st time this year. In 2016, Mikki Heiß (LG Telis Finanz Regensburg) from Iffeldorf won with 2:47:37 hours. The men's race was won by Thomas Mittag (2:37:25) from TSV Jetzendorf.