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Eitan Hermon in Berlin Marathon

Eitan Hermon was born in 1974 and was raised at Kfar Blum, a kibbutz in the Northern part of Israel.  He began running at the age of 10 with his cousin as part of the athletic program on the kibbutz. As a teenager, he joined the Galil running group and would run approximately 7km per day.  After graduating high school, he joined the Israeli army with the famed Golani Brigade. He completed his military service with distinction, and continued on as a reservist.

Eitan returned to competitive racing, completing several 10k races in 35 minutes.  Eitan routinely participated in races and marathons and made a name for himself.

Competitive Highlights:

• 2000 Marathon Tiberias
• 2004 Ein Gedi 21km race
• 2005 Beit Shean 21km race, Eyal Ramat Hasharon 15km race
• 2006 Marathon Tiberias, Tavor 21km race

Eitan was wounded in 2006 during the second Lebanon War when his tank was hit by a road side bomb.  When evacuated, lying on a stretcher, Eitan said over and over again - "I will still run a marathon!".

Doctors tried valiantly to save his leg for 1 year, during which time he was honorably discharged from the army and side lined from running.  After a prolonged hospital stay and many months of rehabilitation, he ultimately required a right below the knee amputation and his world was thrown upside down.  However, he did not give up hope that one day he would be able to run competitively again and cross the finish line a winner.  So began Eitan’s long journey back to the track.  He was fitted with a special prosthetic leg for running and a year after amputation started training for national and international competitions.

After just four months, Eitan completed his first 10k marathon in Tel Aviv.  His coaches were amazed, and he continued training at a high level.  The following year, he completed a 42km marathon in Tiberias with a time of 3:46.  In addition, he has gone on to win medals in many of Israel’s long distance races:

Tel Aviv 21km  in 1:26, Tel Aviv 5km race where he came second with able bodied participants in the 30-40 year category 18:26 minutes.

Last year, he participated in the Berlin marathon with a time of 3:02:12, where he made the second place in his category, as an amputee in the world. He also came in the first 1500 of around 40,000 able bodied participants.

On Sep 25th, he participated again in the Berlin marathon and once again finished well, with the time of 3:12:13. He has not given up his dream on winning world record.

For more details and progress update: tikvotsports@gmail.com