She missed Irina Mikitenko's two year old German record by 17 seconds, but it was a personal best for the 36 year-old. Zaituc was nearly two minutes ahead of Susanne Ritter (33:34). Jan Fitschen won the men's race with 29:18.
On the same day Claudia Dreher won the Cologne Marathon for a third time. The 34 year-old clocked 2:31:43 in rainy conditions. She had won the race last year and in 2002. "This was the hardest of my three wins, but it was the sweetest as well", Claudia Dreher said. She was well ahead of Thabiata Tsatsa (Zimbabwe/2:37:06) und Mounia Aboulahcen (Belgium/2:38:27). The men's race was won by Joseph Kadon (Kenya) with 2:11:55. Peter Chemei (Kenya/2:12:44) was second while Habte Jifar (Ethiopia/2:13:31) took third. About 14,000 runners had entered the race.