BERLIN:The lessons from Berlin have been learned and

despite his advancing years, marathon king Haile Gebrselassie has vowed

to return and attempt a third world record in the German capital.

The world record-holder came here last Sunday hunting a third consecutive record and a fourth straight victory in the German capital, but had to settle for a winning time of 2:06:08. Having smashed his own world mark the year before to set the current global record of 2:03:59 over the 42-kilometre long course, the Ethiopian now plans to leave more in his tank for his 2010 attempt.

“Of course I will try

it again, that was just a training run,” smiled the 36-year-old. He believes that it won’t be long before the world record comes down to around the

2hr 2min mark. “You never know, when you see what’s happened with the sprints and Usain Bolt, it was difficult to imagine that three years ago,” he said.

The champion said his hopes of setting a new world record fell three-quarters into Sunday’s race as the temperature rose.

At the 30km stage, he

was on course at 1:27:49, but his pace dropped away over the next final five kilometres as the sweat flowed and the exertion showed on the Ethiopian’s face. “The last five kilometres were very hard,” admitted the twice Olympic and four-times world 10,000m champion who picked up 80,000 euros for winning the race on top of his 250,000-euro appearance fee. “Perhaps I wanted it too much — my head was the biggest problem, it said to me ‘your body can’t do it’.”

When the race was started by the Germany national football team coach Joachim Loew, the temperature was ideal, but the thermometer later rose to a warm 19 degrees as the race wound its way through Berlin’s streets.

Gebrselassie hit the 30km mark almost 40 seconds faster than the same point the year before and when his final pace-setter Sammy Kosgei dropped out shortly after, the king knew

he would not be celebrating another record. “I knew immediately at that point

the world record would

not come,” said the Ethiopian. “The temperature was just too high.”

As a child growing up on a farm in his native country, Gebrselassie used to run ten kilometres to school every morning, and the same back every evening. This led to a distinctive running style earlier in his career, with his left arm crooked as if still holding his schoolbooks, but he insists the lesson from Berlin.

“I was really tired at the 30km mark and gave too much at the beginning, that is something to take into account,” he said. “I had expected more from my opponents, but I just made sure I ran my best. I am happy, it’s a win for the fourth time, but the last kilometres were really hard. It was warm out there, not really marathon weather.”

Gebrselassie remains an idol in Ethiopia where he’s seen as a shining example of how to escape the country’s grinding poverty. “Running is a gift that has allowed me to leave poverty behind,” he said.

Back home, Gebrselassie is a businessman, employing 600 people and

the owner of an Addis Abeba hotel complex, called the Haile Resort. “My goal is

to give my countrymen

the chance to get out of poverty,” he said.