Runner Mikky Keetels won the Dutch marathon title on Sunday. In the Rotterdam marathon, the full-time stewardess from Schijndel ran a time of 2:30.42, good for a personal record and her first national title. She crossed the finish line on the Coolsingel laughing.
Beforehand, Keetels was already one of the favorites for the Dutch title. De Schijndelse more than lived up to his role as favorite. From the first meters she was in first place among the Dutch ladies. After 42 kilometers and 195 meters she finished the Rotterdam marathon in 8th place, well behind winner Mekides Shimeles from Ethiopia. Good for Keetels’ first national title in the marathon.
“Really bizarre, it went so well,” the Schijndel native responded to NOS immediately after the finish. “I felt so comfortable at the 20 kilometer mark, it went really well. My mind was going well.”
Celebrating
Keetels wanted to run a time of under 2:30 beforehand, but just failed to do so. “It really doesn’t matter to me. Those few seconds could be stolen from me,” Keetels laughed. She felt supported by the enthusiastic audience in the port city. “Really not normal, really goosebumps. Everyone is calling your name, I have no words for it.” When asked where Keetels’ marathon adventure ended, she had a short answer: “For now, it will end with a party.”
Keetels’ preparation for the Rotterdam marathon was not optimal. The stewardess arrived from Buenos Aires in a bit of a hurry this weekend. Quickly from Schiphol to Rotterdam for a press moment, where international marathon toppers also listened to her in amazement.
Bronze in 2025
After the Amsterdam Marathon last fall, the status and approach of the Schijndelse have changed. She then surprised in the capital with a time of 2.31.23. Despite a race that was not optimally organized, she took NK bronze.
Plan your own training courses
Still working without a coach, she plans her own training anywhere in the world. She did join a management team. This opens doors, for example for a first altitude internship that she is planning in Kenya later this year.
She finds it “super bizarre” to be in the same management as top athletes. “It’s very nice that they really look at what I need on a personal level, how I can take the next step. That is really the start of something more serious.”
Dutch all-time rankings
For the time being, Keetels is fourteenth on the Dutch all-time rankings. With an appropriate distance from top runners such as three-time Dutch champion Anne Luijten, Nienke Brinkman and certainly Sifan Hassan, who holds the European record with 2.13.44.
But all those top athletes were missing in Rotterdam on Sunday, leaving the path to her first marathon title open. And Keetels lived up to her role as favorite.