Results for 2018

The Tata Steel Kolkata 25K saw Ethiopian runners dominate again in the City of Joy with Birhanu Legese and Dibaba Kuma taking the titles on Sunday 16 December, the second year running that athletes from the East African country had done the double.

In contrast to 2017, the first year the race incorporated an international elite field, both the men’s and women’s races quickly turned into enthralling tactical affairs.

Without pacemakers, a large group that included several of the Indian elite runner went through 5km in a relatively sedate 15:37 with Uganda’s Robert Chemonges and Tanzania’s Augustino Sulle doing most of the work at the front in the early stages of the race.

The pace increased slightly over the next five kilometres but a group of nine were still together as 10Km was reached in 30:35; and then slowed again as 15km was passed 45:57, allowing the leading group to increase to 11.

The next five kilometres saw just three men shaken off with the 20km split reading 1:01:04. However, if the winning time was now never going to match Kenenisa Bekele’s course record of 1:13:48 from 12 months ago, it did ensure a thrilling finish and that’s what the thousands lining the route of the world’s only IAAF Label Road Race over 25km were able to witness.

With two kilometres remaining, the two-time Airtel Delhi Half Marathon winner Legese put in a surge which splintered the leading group. His teenage compatriot Bayelign Yegsaw was the only man to follow closely as the rest struggled to stay with the leading pair.

One-by-one the remaining runners dropped away before Legese found another gear over the final 400 metres to fend off Yegsaw, who doesn’t turn 19 until next February and will possibly start as the favourite for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships U20 title next March. Legese clocked 1:15:48 – exactly two minutes slower than Bekele clocked in 2017 – with Yegsaw one second in arrears in 1:15: 49 and Amos Kipruto winning an all-Kenyan battle for the remaining place on the podium as he just edged out Eric Kiptanui, both men given the same time of 1:15:52.

“Indian races seem to be good for me,” said Legese. “I haven’t always won but I have nearly always run well. Today wasn’t a fast race because nobody wanted to take the pace in the first half of the race but that suited me.”

The women’s race unfolded in very similar fashion with a large group going through 5km in 18:27 before ten runners remained at the front together, going through 10km in 36:09 as no one had been prepared to push the pace particularly hard.

The same 10 were still together as 15km was reached in 54:29 with the pre-race favourite and defending champion Degitu Azimeraw content to sit back in the middle of pack and let others keep the pace ticking over at the front.

Eight runners were still in contention at 20km, which was passed in 1:11:21 before Kuma and her little-known Ethiopian compatriot Ftaw Zeray started to push hard with two kilometres to go.

Immediately the pack broke up before Azimeraw and Tanzania’s Failuna Matanga briefly re-joined them. However, the quartet became a duo once again as the last kilometre approached and then Kuma – who clearly had recovered quickly from clocking 2:23:34 on her marathon debut when finishing third in the Ljubljana Marathon just seven weeks ago – eased away to win over the final few hundred metres.

Kuma passed the line in 1:27:34 with Zeray four seconds behind in 1:27: 38 and Matanga third again, like in 2017, in 1:27.45. Azimeraw had her first below-par outing of the year and had to settle for fourth place in 1:27:54 but it should be remembered that the talented teenager is still only 19.

“I just rested for a week after my marathon and then started preparing for this race. I didn’t really change my training from what I was doing for the marathon,” said Kuma nonchalantly after taking the US$7500 first prize.

Held in Aqaba, Jordan’s only coastal city, 3000 local and overseas runners competed in this 14th edition at distances of the Half Marathon, 10km and 4km. The warm and sunny weather brought people out on to the streets to compete and to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Yebrgual Melese took more than a minute off the women’s course record while compatriot Abdiwak Tura took the men’s title after a furious sprint to the line writes Vincent Wu.

Melese led a group of seven at a fast pace passing 20km in 1:06:30. Only three women remained by 25km (1:23:35) and it became a duel between Melese and Azmera Abreha after 27km. Melese went ahead from 36km for a comfortable win. Eight of the top 10 women ran personal bests.

Two sub-2:05 runners turned the men’s race into a 100-metre sprint as they raced for the line, with Tura edging out fellow Ethiopian Tsegaye Mekonnen. Nine men were still together at 30km and only two had dropped off the pace by 35km as a tactical endgame approached. All seven entered the stadium together and Mekonnen was the first to attack as Tura and Dickson Tuwei followed him. Tura passed Mekonnen in the final 10m as seven runners finished within eight seconds.

Despite strong winds on the Saturday during the children’s races in which 8500 participated conditions improved for the Marathon next day.

Sisay Lemma, who ran 2:04:08 in Dubai back in January started out on a solo run after just 10km. His relentless effort smashed the old course record by a huge margin as he finished in 2:04:58 – ninth fastest of the year. In the women’s category Visiline Jepkesho also set a new course record with 2:22:58 – confirming Ljubljana’s credentials as a very fast course.

With a good organisation, great atmosphere and amazing results Volkswagen Ljubljana Marathon is becoming one of the best marathons in the region. Runners from 58 different countries participated.

Signing up to the Zero Waste Undertaking, the organisers encouraged waste prevention, re-use and waste separation at the event. Charitable causes also benefitted with energy converted into electricity: the Red Nose Society (clowns who raise morale among children in hospital) received an e-Golf electric car for kilometres equivalent to the energy released by all participants during the marathon.

Ethiopian Kelkile Gezahegn won the 37th edition in cool and sometimes windy conditions. 33-year-old Ethiopian Meskerem Assefa broke the course record by 25 seconds.13,934 runners from 102 countries took part.

Twelve men went through halfway in 62:27. The NE wind was in favour early but the headwind from 27km slowed the pace. Ethiopia’s Kelkile Gezahegn and the Kenyan Martin Kosgey, runners-up in 2017 and 2016 respectively, launched an attack which broke up the leading group but Kenya’s Alex Kibet, making his marathon debut, regained contact at 36km.

Martin Kosgey took the lead with 3km to go and Kibet dropped off the pace. Gezahegn tracked Kosgey in what become a tactical finish, culminating in a 500m sprint 500 to the line which Gezahegn won by four seconds. Martin Kosgey set a personal best but finished second for the second time.

Twelve women passed halfway in 69:55 so on course for sub-2:20. Even at 30km (1:39:30) they were on track but the group slowed and some lost contact running into the headwind. By 35km it was down to five and eventually it became a battle between Haftamnesh Tesfay and Meskerem. Assefa moved ahead In the final kilometre: “I did not really feel the wind, I wanted to run 2:22 and win the race [but] I had to run a little bit quicker [to win].” Five of the top ten ran personal records and seven finished inside 2:23.

11,407 runners challenged harsh weather between Lausanne and Vevey on Sunday. In cold and windy conditions (between 3 and 8 degrees Celsius) Alaa Hrioued (MAR) and Aline Camboulives (FRA) won the marathon in 2:22:16 and 2:43:14 respectively. Ethiopians Alemayehu Wodajo and Israel Silas Geletu took victory over the half marathon distance in 1:06:56 and 1:20:06. Kenyans Bernard Matheka and Mercyline Jeronoh were the fastest over 10 km with 29:09 and 33:37. For Matheka this was a 4th win in a row. Three runners from the region had strong races: the 22 year old Simone Troxler was second in the marathon with a fast time of 2:44:13; 10 minutes faster than the previous year. Mountain runner François Leboeuf ran a personal best of 1:08:51 in the half marathon. Laura Hrebec, 28th in the marathon at the European Championships, ran 1:15:52 for silver over the same distance.

The anticipated duel between Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba and Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei was upstaged by Ethiopian debutante Tsehay Gemechu who flew to a new course record of 1:06:50 writes Phil Minshul. Gemechu sliced four seconds off Mary Keitany’s nine-year-old record in a race full of drama and surprises. The 20-year-old outsprinted world record holder Jepkosgei in the final few hundred metres.

Earlier three-time Olympic champion Dibaba struggled from as early as 5km. She was still hanging on at 10km as a pack of eight went through in 31:42 but was dropped soon after. Gemechu, Jepkosgei, Kenya’s Stacy Ndiwa and Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi went through 15km in 47:51 but Teferi, another half marathon debutante, started to carve out a lead which by 19km amounted to 12 seconds. Gemechu and Jepkosgei, chasing her, seemed to be battling for second place but at 20km Teferi slowed dramatically, clearly unwell. Gemechu and Jepkosgei sped past her before she dropped out.

Andamlak Belihu scored success for Ethiopia in the men’s race with an assured run over the final third of the race, having pushed the pace from just after halfway. Four men were still together at 15km, passed in 42:41 Belihu and his fellow Ethiopian Amdework Walelegn, Kenya’s Daniel Kipchumba and Eritrea’s Aron Kifle but by 17km only Walelegn could follow Belihu’s pace. Belihu always looked the more comfortable of the two and proved so as he kicked ahead with 250m to go.