Alexander Stubb, Finnland's Minister of Foreign Affairs, finishes in 3:17 hours in Frankfurt

Boris Rhein, Markus Frank, Alexander Stubb

Frankfurt remains a good place for Alexander Stubb's athletic ambitions. Finnland's Minister of Foreign Affairs came to Frankfurt in 2009 to finish the Ironman Germany in 10 hours 35 minutes. Last Sunday he returned for the Frankfurt Marathon and it took him only 3 hours 17 minutes 53 seconds to cross the finish line in the Festhalle after 42,195 kilometres.

"It was very good, I could improve my personal best by three minutes. I am very happy with the time and the result", he said. Due to stomach problems during the second half he didn't reach his goal of finishing in 3 hours 10 minutes. "The finish in the Festhalle was very nice. I got ther exactly at the time of the award ceremony that was a great experience." On of the first people to congratulate him was his colleague Guido Westerwelle, Germany's foreing minister, who send him a text message by phone congratulating.

 

Stubb was thrilled by the experience of his eight marathon. "The race course is excellent. It's flat and fast, perfect for improving your best time and the atmosphere is great." Also he loved the weather which was perfect for running. "You have the best organization of the world. That is a clichee but it really is a trademark. You have proved that with your marathon. Therefor I want to thank everyone who made this possible. In the words of John F. Kennedy I can only say: Ich bin ein Frankfurter."

According to Stubb the Frankfurt Marathon is not well known in Finnland where number one is definitely the Stockholm Marathon. "More Finns run in Stockholm than in Helsinki", he said. Second most popular marathon for Finns is Berlin. But Stubb would like to see more people participating in Frankfurt which he thinks has the potential to become one of the five or six largest marathons in the world. "I would like to promote Frankfurt, tell people about my great experience here and make it more popular among my countrymen."

One of the first steps could be to run in Frankfurt together with his wife, who premiered at Stockholm last summer with a time of 3:46 hours. "She is fast and Frankfurt is a good race course for her." To top his personal best he wants to increase his training to 65 kilometres per week. "I have to train more", he said. Possibly the BMW Frankfurt Marathon next year will be the place where it happens.