It seems a blindingly obvious starting point, but it's the athletes who make a race and these days, Berlin is increasingly able to attract the best talent for its annual showpiece. Seeking to carve out its unique selling point against other marathon major behemoths such as London and New York, Berlin has narrowed its focus over the last decade to home in on a small number of super-elites who they feel have a chance of breaking records. This has occasionally seen the race built around a single athlete, as it was when Haile Gebrselassie set his world records in 2007 and 2008.