Running News Daily

Taye Girma captured victory at the Boulogne-Billancourt Half-Marathon,

Taye Girma and Parendis Lekapana captured victories at the Boulogne-Billancourt Christian Grangier Half-Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label road race, on Sunday. Spearheaded by Precious Mashele of South Africa, who established a steady tempo from the gun, the lead pack of eight runners hit the five-kilometer and 10-kilometer marks in 14:31 and 29:02 respectively. Mashele, Olika Adugna, Yismaw Ayenu, Taye Girma, Josphat Tanui and 2008 Olympic steeplechase champion Brimin Kipruto were still in contention for the victory at 15 kilometres, reached in 43:32. Mashele broke up the field by ramping up the pace after about 17 kilometers and only Girma and Tanui were able to follow him. Then Girma began his decisive attack with two kilometers remaining, passing the 20-kilometers mark in 57:55, two seconds ahead of Tanui and six seconds ahead of Mashele. Girma maintained his pace in the closing stages and won in 1:00:52. It’s my first experience of a half marathon and I’m very happy to win today,” said the Ethiopian, who earlier this year set a 10km PB of 28:06. “I felt cold during most of the race.”  Tanui came home second in 1:01:00 as Mashele rounded the podium in 1:01:14. Kipruto, now focusing on road running, finished fifth in 1:02:24. Parendis Lekapana produced a solo effort to prevail over compatriot Susan Jeptoo, whose PB of 1:09:02 is 11 seconds faster than Lekapana’s personal record. Lekapana, 27, set out well inside PB pace and covered the first five kilometres in 15:51, suggesting a possible finish time of 1:06:50. She was then timed in 32:21 at 10 kilometers, 42 seconds ahead of Jeptoo, and was still on pace to challenge the course record of 1:08:29 set by Rahma Tusa last year. The Kenyan couldn’t maintain that kind of speed and covered the next 10-kilometer section in 34:32, but she still held a 55-second lead over Jeptoo at 20 kilometres. Although the gap had reduced to 40 seconds, Lekapana, second last year, crossed the line in 1:10:46 to seal her second win of the year following a 1:09:23 success in Krems. Karine Pasquier of France finished third in 1:15:26. (11/20/2018) Views: 1,800 ⚡AMP