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Swiss win Biel’s “mega marathon”

Bringold celebrates victory after more than seven hours of running Keystone

Swiss runners Andreas Bringold and Karin Stump have lived up to their billings as top favourites for this year's 100-kilometre race in Biel, winning the men's and women's section of the gruelling contest by impressive margins.

Equal in distance to almost two and a half marathons, the Biel race is run through the night, to protect competitors from the heat of the day. But with miserable weather dogging this year’s event, the runners had instead to deal with driving rain and bitterly cold temperatures.

Despite the poor conditions, Bringold improved on his personal best by more than 11 minutes to win the race in just under seven hours and 13 minutes. Bringold’s fast time saw him finish more than 10 minutes ahead of second-placed Swiss runner Fritz Geissbühler, with Germany’s Ulrich Santherr taking third spot.

Stump dominated the women’s competition, finishing more than half an hour before Germany’s Anke Drescher, with a time of eight hours 12 minutes and 22 seconds.

Germany’s Birgit Lennartz, a multiple-winner in Biel and the course’s reigning record holder, was forced to pull out halfway through the race suffering from injuries she sustained in a bike crash last week.

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