NEW DELHI: Ethiopia’s Guye Adola set a course record as he emerged victorious in the international elite men’s category, while Florence Kiplagat of Kenya finished on top in the women’s category of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM) on a chilly Sunday morning.
Adola clocked 59.06 minutes and broke co-Kenyan athlete Atsedu Tsegay’s 2013 record of 59:12 to take home a prize money of $27000 plus the additional course record bonus of $7500.
“The competition was tough due to the early morning cold. But I am very happy to win,” said Adola of the competitive race. He beat secondplaced World Half Marathon champion Geoffrey Kipsang (59:07) by a margin of one second and third-placed Mosinet Geremew (59:11) by a margin of five seconds in a closely contested encounter. Competing after a gap of six months, Stanley Biwott finished fifth.
The race saw Jonathan Maiyo, Guye Adola, Geoffrey Kipsang, Stephen Kibet, Mosinet Geremew and Cybrian Kotut running closely together and even leading the race at different intervals. It wasn’t until the 54th minute (19kms) that Guye finally broke away from the pack and maintained his lead till the end of the race.
Meanwhile, Kipsang out sprinted Mosinet in the last few metres to take second place. “The race was very competitive. All the elite athletes performed extremely well. The first 10kms was very slow but the last 5kms was run very fast. Next time, I am surely going to win,” said Kipsang, who participated in his third ADHM.
In the women’s elite category, two-time world champion Florence Kiplagat stunned reigning World Half Marathon champion Gladys Cherono and became the first runner to defend a women’s crown in Delhi.
“Everyone was strong. I had some tactics and more importantly, I had faith in my abilities,” said an elated Florence who posted a time of 70:04, slower than her last year’s 68:02. Gladys, who clocked 70:05, said it was the last 200m that made a difference.
“This race was very competitive. I tried to push in the last two kilometres. However, we were slow as compared to last year. We tried to match Florence in the last 200m.” Ethiopian runner Worknesh Degefa finished third with a timing of 70:07.