Results for 2017

Kenenisa Bekele finished his 2017 racing with a win but fell short of his personal best after breaking away in the 19th kilometre. Bekele’s best of 1:12:47 was set en route in the 2016 Berlin Marathon (which he won in 2:03:02) but a slow early pace, hovering around 3mins/km, ruled out any improvement.

Bekele had briefly drifted off the back of the lead pack around 12km when his compatriot Asefa Diro went through seven seconds ahead of him. But he soon got back on level terms before surging away just after 18km and leaving his pursuers in disarray. In this first international edition of the race he improved the course record by nearly 3.5 minutes. Leading local runner Avinesh Sable, in fourth, ran a national record.

The women’s race still had four in contention at 23km: Helah Kiprop, Tanzanian Failuna Matanga and the Ethiopian pair of Degitu Azimeraw and Dibabe Kuma. With little over a kilometre to run Kuma dropped back and with 600m to go Azimeraw, in her first ever international race, sprinted for home to drop first the diminutive Matanga and then the ever-tenacious Kiprop. In fifth place emerging local star Loganathan Suriya continued her run of fine form to set another national record following her 1:10:29 at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon last month.

The race started at city hall and finished at the center of Port Island while good weather prevailed.

A special ceremony was staged just before the start: “Raise hands with yellow gloves” which was observed by all participants and organizing teams. The raised yellow gloves represented sunflowers which are the symbol of reconstruction following the Great Earthquake which destroyed Kobe and left 6400 dead when it struck 22 years ago. A moment of silence was observed as a prayer for the victims and for the safe conduct of the race.

The men’s winner was Khalil Lemciyeh (MAR) in 2:12:49 and the women’s winner Maegan Krifchin (USA) with 2:33:14. Both set new course records. There were 19,709 starters and 18,949 finished.

Birhanu Legese regained the title he won two years ago after pulling away in the final 500m. 1000m World and Olympic champion Almaz Ayana won her debut half marathon.

Entering the final kilometre any of five men could have won and all five went under the hour with another four under 61 minutes. World Marathon Champion Geoffrey Kirui had his first race since winning his world title and slipped out of contention late in the race.

Ayana, like Legese, only got away from her compatriot Abebel Yeshaneh in the last kilometre. Yeshaneh finished second for the second time in a row but improved her personal best by 33 seconds. Loganathan Suriya, in eighth, finished in an Indian half marathon record of 1:10:29, breaking the record set by Lalita Babar in this same race in 2015 by 33 seconds.

A large, enthusiastic crowd lining the finish line erupted as Daniel Tapia became the first-ever Monterey County native to win the 15-year-old event. Tapia grew up in nearby Prunedale and ran a personal best to beat runner-up Futsum Zienasellassie, a six-time All-American at Northern Arizona University, in his debut half marathon.

Tapia also bested the women’s winner to nearly double his prize money in the battle-of-the-sexes “Equalizer Challenge”. Female elites started the race 9:05 ahead but Tapia caught the leading woman, Monicah Ngige (KEN) who was also making her debut at the distance, in the final stages.

31-year old Tapia was runner-up last year four seconds behind the winner. “I came to win today,” he said. “I knew I was ready.” He settled into the pack at 3km but at 13km, in neighbouring Pacific Grove, he broke away as the course turns back towards the finish. “We started going downhill and… I made my move,” Tapia said: “I went for it and it worked.” He pulled away from a group of seven others by running sub-3mins/km pace for the next 5km. His overall pace was 3:01/km. “He’s brought a lot of pride to Monterey County,” said race director Doug Thurston.

Ngige averaged 3:27/km in the women’s race: “The course is [not easy in] the first half, but coming back was better,” said the 10km specialist. “I love the coast, and Monterey is very beautiful.”

The weekend events included 5km and 3km races on the day before altogether attracted 8800 runners from 48 states and 18 countries. Nearly two-thirds of them were female. The oldest runner in the half marathon, Hai Chung, of Monterey, was 89 years old. 3861 were competing in the Monterey Bay Half Marathon for the first time, and 1231 had never competed at the distance before.

The race was almost cancelled because of heavy rain but the hostile conditions (6–8ºC) didn’t stop hundreds of athletes running along the shores of Lake Maggiore in what is called “The Most Panoramic Course in Italy”. There were also races at 33km, 21km and 10km.

More than 3000 runners from Europe, Asia and South America came to participate in one of the four races offered.

The Marathon joined in with the festivities of the important traditional “Calaveras Festival” (Skulls’ Festival), an event dating from pre-hispanic times to honour and venerate loved ones who have passed away. The race medal and T-shirt design incorporated elements of this tradition and aspects that define us as Mexicans.

The day before of race a Mini Marathon took place with 380 children aged from under 5 to 12 years old running distances from 900m to 3.6km.

The Marathon was made possible due to the participation of 1200 volunteers helping as paramedics, with hydration and animation, or as traffic marshals, etc. All the waste material generated by the race is separated and composted or recycled where possible.

The person who crosses the start line is never the same person that crosses the finish line. The race and our city are inspired by the runners that come to take part.

Joyciline Jepkosgei set her sixth world record of the year and her second at the half marathon by beating the time she ran back in March by a single second.

Having improved the 10km world record last month she had the half marathon time in her sights from the start and was paced specifically with this in mind. Even so the early kilometres were faster than intended with 5km being clipped off in 14:52 (2:58/km). She went through 10km in 30:09 (3:02/km) but it began to look as if the damage had been done as her pace slipped to 45:59 (3:04/km) at 15km.

But Jepkosgei managed to rally to reach 20km in 1:01:30 (3:04.5/km). With a supreme effort over the last 1.1km she just ducked under her previous world record. “The course is perfect to run fast,” she said, adding that she will return to contest the World Half Marathon Championships to be held in Valencia on 24 March. In second place Fancy Chemutai improved her best time by 80 seconds.

Abraham Cheroben took the men’s title in a time 22 seconds slower than he has run in the race before. It was his third win in Valencia in the last four years. Pacemakers led through 5km in 14 minutes flat – on pace for a course record but not fast enough for Cheroben – who took the lead at 6km. His surge dropped all except the Ethiopians Leul Gebrselassie and Tsadik Fidaku Haftu, who had neither broken the hour before. They passed 10km in 27:54. Cheroben continued to lead but slowed slightly so that there was no longer any realistic hope of a course record. 20km passed in 56:18 Cherono kicked with 600m to go and instantly pulled out a winning margin.

In fourth the Norwegian Sondre Moen set a new national record and smashed his personal best by over two minutes.