Walk in the park for Kipchoge
DELHI HALF MARATHON Kenya’s Rio marathon champion crosses the finish line in 59:44 seconds
NEW DELHI: Sunday’s Delhi half marathon proved to be a stroll in the park for Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge. Barring the last three of the 21.097 km race, the Rio Olympics marathon champion didn’t exert himself, winning in 59 minutes, 44 seconds.
For someone who is used to training in the altitude of Kenya’s Rift Valley (above 2000m), running in the Capital’s roads was comfortable, to say the least. “It was easy for me. I wasn’t concerned about the weather. The quality of the air might have been bad, but it didn’t stop me from winning,” Kipchoge said in the post-race interaction.
The Kenyan, however, admitted that he was pushed a bit by Yigrem Demelash of Ethiopia, who finished second.
“He (Demelash) is basically a track runner and has a good finishing burst. So I tried to shrug him off in the last two kilometers of the race. Otherwise, he could have troubled me,” added Kipchoge. It was Kipchoge’s second race in the Capital. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the Kenyan had finished second in the 5000m. It was his first competitive outing since the Rio Olympics win. BREAKING AWAY Kipchoge broke away from the Ethiopian runner at the 18km mark, but kept glancing over his left shoulder to ensure Demelash wasn’t closing in.
After the race the Ethiopian said a foot problem in the opening 5km troubled him. It was why he wasn’t able to challenge his more fancied rival. “It just got worse as the race progressed,” he said.
Kipchoge’s training partner Augustine Choge finished third.
The leading Indian men’s group weren’t able to challenge the foreign runners. Army’s Mohd Yunus, who finished second behind teammate G Lakshmanan in the Indian section, said a better training plan in the future will help the top Indian runners to catch up with the best.
While the elite foreign runners didn’t complain about the smog, the Indians did. “There was irritation in the eyes due to the pollution,” said Yunus. Man Singh finished third to complete Army’s dominance in the event. DEGEFA WINS The elite women’s race was also a battle between Ethiopia and Kenya. Worknesh Degefa of Ethiopia pipped Abable Yeshaneh of Kenya to the second spot by 10 seconds. Kenya’s Helah Kiprop was third. The top three in the Indian women’s group were from Maharashtra with Monika Athare edging past Sanjeevani Jadhav at the finish line to take the winner’s trophy. Swati Gadhave was third.