In his marathon debut, Stan Niesten crossed the finish line as the third Dutchman in Rotterdam. De Beverwijker clocked a final time of 2 hours 14 minutes and 26 seconds, good for the bronze medal at the Dutch National Championships.
The national title went to Abdi Nageeye for the fourth time in his career in the port city (2:05.32). That put him on the podium as number three. The Belgian Bashir Abdi took the overall victory in 2:03.48.
National title fight
Niesten built up his race well. As expected, Nageeye nestled in the front of the top favorites and Björn Koreman also took off hard, the 26-year-old Niesten chose his own path. For a long time he walked together with Roy Hoornweg. They passed Koreman in the second part of the race. After just over 34 kilometers Niesten had to let Hoornweg go.
Hoornweg steamed on towards the Coolsingel, took silver and improved his PR by three minutes: 2:13.19. Niesten conceded just over a minute on Hoornweg and on his marathon debut immediately ended up as number three on the podium in a final time of 2:14.26.
Gianlcua Assorgia finished just next to the podium at the NK. The athlete from Den Helder crossed the finish line in 2:14.51. Ronald Schröer from Egmond aan de Hoef finished in eighth place (2:19.51).