One of Iona College’s most notable alumni, Stephen Chemlany, was one of 40,963 runners to race in the 38th BMW Berlin Marathon on Sept. 25.

One million people lined the streets of Germany to cheer as Chemlany crossed the finish line in 2:07:55, taking second place overall.

Chemlany boasts an impressive college career running track and cross country at Iona, graduating in 2006.

The harrier earned four MAAC Championships in his time at Iona, finishing first in the 3k and 5k in 2005 and 2006.

Chemlany was also an All-Northeast region performer in cross country and in 2004 finished 33rd at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, just missing an All-American honor.

Chemlany is proud of his performance at the Berlin Marathon, but hopes to improve in the future.

“I just want to thank the entire Iona community for acknowledging this performance, which I have been dearly hoping for since the beginning of this season,” said Chemlany. “It has been through tireless efforts of training, focus, determination and hope that has enabled my performance up to this mark. I still believe that I can do better than this – very possible 2:04 sometime in the future. I am extremely happy (for the time) and it will just be a motivation  for better results come next season.”

Chemlany started off the race as one of 12 pacemakers for the first 20 miles, and held on to second place.

Chemlany finished second to a fellow Kenyan, Patrick Makau. Makau crossed the finish line with a world record time, clocking in at 2:03.38, beating previous record holder Haile Gebrselassie’s by 21 seconds.

Gebrselassie and Makau were expected to duel for the title crown of the marathon, however, Gebrselassie struggled with asthma, causing him to drop out of the race around the 22 mile mark.

Makau described his aggressive approach to the race. “He (Gebrselassie) was trying to use me to maintain the pace,” Makau said. “I decided not to carry