Gemechu wins women’s race with course record
Tsehay Gemechu set a course record while emerging the surprise women’s winner and Adamlak Belihu won the men’s race as Ethiopians dominated the Delhi half marathon on Sunday.
Gemechu, 20, upstaged her illustrious compatriot, Tirunesh Dibaba, as well as Joyciline Jepkosgei, the Kenyan world record holder, to win the women’s race clocking 1 hour, 6 minutes, 49 seconds. She claimed the winner’s purse of $27,000 and a $10,000 bonus for breaking Kenyan Mary Keitany’s nine-yearold course record of 1:06:54.
Jepkosgei came second clocking 1:06:56 and Ethiopia’s Zeineba Yimer was third (1:06:59) while Tinunesh Dibaba, the Olympic and world track champion, trailed home sixth at 1:08:36.
In the men’s elite race, the 19-year-old Belihu clocked 59:18, narrowly falling short of the course record of 59:06. Pre-race favorite Daniel Kipchumba of Kenya slipped to third (59:48). Ethiopia’s Amdework Walelegn, 19, came second at 59:22 after shadowing the winner all through the race.
The race, advanced this year
and flagged off at 6 am after steps were taken to reduce pollution along the course, was a close contest early on.
Belihu ran a near perfect race, staying with the leading bunch of 13 runners till the half-way mark before stepping it up to reach the 15km mark in 42:41. At 17km, Belihu opened up a small gap. The surge spread out the field but Walelegn didn’t lose contact with his compatriot.
Belihu and Walelegn kept pushing the pace. With 3km to go, Belihu further pushed the pace making his intentions clear. He then produced a strong finish, although he fell 12 secs short of the course record, to be contend with $27,000.
Belihu blamed the pacemakers for the slower race. “I was well prepared, I could have set the record but the first half of the race was slightly slower.”
Walelegn, who ran his first half marathon, said he lost steam in the home stretch. “The last 400m was tough, I just failed to keep pace with Belihu,” he said through an interpreter.
The category for Indians saw a major upset with 21-year-old Abhishek Pal winning at 1:04:13 secs while the seasoned T Gopi settled for third.
Avinash Sable, a pre-race favourite, settled for second place. Defending champion Nitendra Singh Rawat finished out of the top ten.
The women’s race was won by India’s rising distance runner Sanjivani Jadhav (1:13:58). She was excited to win the season’s first road race, saying it would boost her confidence.
The Indian category top three finishers were given a prizemoney of R 4 lakh, R 3 lakh and R 2 lakh respectively.
NEWDELHI: RESULTS