Running News Daily
Top Ten Stories of the Week
3/25/2023
These are the top ten stories based on views over the last week.
Obiri breaks event record, Kiplimo gets the better of Cheptegei in New York
Two-time world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri and world cross-country champion Jacob Kiplimo produced dominant performances at the United Airlines NYC Half on Sunday (19).
Obiri was locked in a duel with Ethiopia’s 2015 world silver medallist Senbere Teferi for much of the race, but broke away from the defending champion just before 15km to win in an event record of 1:07:21. Kiplimo, meanwhile, waited until just after 15km to make his move, and once he dropped Joshua Cheptegei he didn’t look back, going on to win in 1:01:31.
Obiri and Teferi made an early break from the rest of the field. By the time they reached 5km (15:50), they already had a 22-second margin over Diane van Es of the Netherlands, who led a small chase pack.
Teferi was tucked in right behind Obiri for a large part of the race with the Kenyan leading the duo through 10km (31:29). But as they started to approach the 15km marker, Teferi’s challenge began to fade. Obiri forged on ahead and crossed the line in 1:07:21 to take 14 seconds off the event record Teferi set last year.
Teferi had to settle for second place on this occasion, clocking 1:07:55. European cross-country champion Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal came through for third place (1:09:53).
“I’m so grateful to have won this race,” said Obiri, the 2019 world cross-country champion. “There was a lot of wind, but I tried to push the pace after 15km.
“My mind was just on winning and not the time, because it is a hard course. I still wanted to run sub-70, so I’m happy to have done that and to have won today.”
Britain’s Chris Thompson was a surprise early leader of the men’s race, opening up a significant gap on the rest of the field in the first 5km, covered in 15:00. He just about held on to the lead until 10km (30:10), by which point the large chase pack was just a few strides behind.
Once Thompson had inevitably been reeled in, Morocco’s Zouhair Talbi led what was now a lead pack of about 15 runners. The group soon became strung out with Talbi leading at 15km (44:35), just ahead of Kiplimo and Cheptegei.
Just a minute or two later, Kiplimo – contesting his first race since winning the world cross-country title in Bathurst last month – finally took charge and started to pull away from Cheptegei and Talbi.
Over the course of the final five kilometres, Kiplimo opened up a gap of 38 seconds on two-time world 10,000m champion Cheptegei, winning in 1:01:31. Cheptegei was second in 1:02:09, finishing nine seconds ahead of Talbi.
“I’m very excited to win this race, my first half marathon of 2023,” said Kiplimo. “Even though it was cold, I did my best. For the past few months I have been preparing for cross-country, and that helped me a lot for this race.”
(03/19/23) Views: 575
Cheptegei, Kiplimo To Renew Their Rivalry At United Airlines NYC Half
Standing in Times Square this morning, Jacob Kiplimo and Joshua Cheptegei looked like any other tourists visiting one of this city's most famous landmarks. Their hands thrust into their jacket pockets to ward off the late winter cold, the two Ugandans took in the sights while engaging in friendly conversation and taking a few selfies. Neither had ever been to New York City.
But on Sunday at the 16th edition of the United Airlines NYC Half, America's largest half-marathon with about 25,000 finishers, they will return to their more familiar roles as rivals. Kiplimo, 22, the reigning World Athletics half-marathon and cross country champion, and Cheptegei, 26, the reigning Olympic and World Athletics 10,000m champion, will face each other again just 29 days after the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia. There --in hot, humid and windy conditions-- Kiplimo won the gold medal in a last-lap breakaway relegating Cheptegei, who was the event's reigning champion, to the bronze medal position. Both are savoring the chance to race head to head again, but their rivalry is clearly a friendly one.
"I'm happy to be competing together with Joshua," said Kiplimo, the world record holder for the half-marathon, with a relaxed smile. He beat Cheptegei in 2020 World Athletics Half-Marathon Championships where he was the surprise gold medalist and Cheptegei finished fourth in his first and only half-marathon. He added: "On Sunday we're going to try our best, I'm going to try my best."
Cheptegei said, "absolutely, yes," when asked if he was motivated to race against Kiplimo. "I would really give everything to win," he told Race Results Weekly. "But you never know what goes in the race."
According to the respected statistics website Tilastopaja Oy, Cheptegei has a 6-0 record over Kiplimo in track races at 5000m and 10,000m. In the half-marathon, Kiplimo won in their only meeting, and at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships they are tied 1-1. Cheptegei was the gold medalist in Aarhus, Denmark, in 2019 where Kiplimo took the silver.
But their biggest rival on Sunday just might be the course. When the race debuted as a summer event back in 2006, the course went from Engineers' Gate in Central Park to a stretch of the West Side Highway just north of Battery Park in lower Manhattan. Runners enjoyed a total elevation loss of 30 meters, and in the final 10 kilometers the athletes were often helped by a tailwind as the prevailing winds in New York City come from the north and west. But in 2018 New York Road Runners changed the course to encompass more of the city's residential neighborhoods, and it now goes from Prospect Park in Brooklyn to Central Park in Manhattan. The opening nine kilometers feature several significant hills, including a steep climb up the Manhattan Bridge where the runners cross from Brooklyn to Manhattan.
"I saw in the TV that some is a little bit tough," Kiplimo said of the course. He added: "I think it will be very difficult, but actually for me it's not so difficult because we'll just be running up and down. It's almost the same (as) World Cross."
Cheptegei, who has reached the point in his track career that he has begun thinking about his marathon debut, didn't seem too worried about the course and was already looking ahead to a possible run at the TCS New York City Marathon which also has a hilly course.
"They haven't told me so many things about the course," Cheptegei said. "They told me about the New York full marathon course, where the race is mostly decided, especially on the climb." He continued: "About Sunday, really excited to run my second half-marathon. I've really thought about it, and maybe in the future when I go to marathons maybe New York can be my final destination."
Both men said they had recovered well since their race in Bathurst, and Cheptegei said he had picked up some additional fitness.
"I think I had a lot of time to recover," he said. "I had to continue with my training because I was sure that I was actually going to be invited for the New York Half-Marathon. Everything has been going along well. My shape is actually better than cross country so I hope that I can run a good half-marathon."
NYRR is offering a $120,000 prize money purse for Sunday's race. Twenty-thousand dollars will be paid to the winners in the open male and female categories, while the wheelchair winners will receive $4,000. There is special prize money for NYRR members in the male, female and non-binary categories ($1500 for each category winner).
This year's United NYC Half comes three years after the 2020 race was abruptly cancelled at the outset of the pandemic. The 2021 edition of the race was also cancelled, and in 2022 the race was held at nearly full capacity with 22,335 finishers recorded. NYRR's new president and CEO, Rob Simmelkjaer, was clearly excited to oversee his first major event since becoming the organization's head in December, 2022.
"We can't wait to welcome 25,000 runners to the starting line," said Rob Simmelkjaer, who pronounces his last name SIM-el-care. He continued: "People are running more now than ever before."
The 2023 United Airlines NYC Half will be broadcast locally by WABC-TV channel 7 as part of their Sunday morning news broadcast. The pro races, which begin at 7:00 a.m. local time, can be streamed on both the NYRR's Facebook (https://twitter.com/nyrr) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/nyrr) pages, and will also be available via the ESPN app and the WABC website (https://abc7ny.com/)
(03/17/23) Views: 158David Monti
Kenyan runners Kiprotich Noah Kigen and Margaret Njugna winners of Jerusalem Marathon
Over 40,000 people took part in the 12th annual Jerusalem Winner Marathon on Friday, with Kenyan runners Kiprotich Noah Kigen and Margaret Njugna emerging as the winners with a time of 2:18:13 and 2:52:44 respectively.
Second place for the men were Spain's Chakib Achgar Iatrache with 2:25:45 and Israel's Gamber Melakmo with a time of 2:28:30.
For the women, second place went to Russia's Elena Tolstykh with a time of 2:55:31, followed by Israel's Noa Berkman with 2:59:12.
The winners won a prize of $3,750; the second place won $2,500; and the third place won $1,250.
The Jerusalem marathon, sponsored by Toto-Winner, is headed by the Jerusalem Municipality in cooperation with the Jerusalem Development Authority, with the support and assistance of the Culture and Sport Ministry and the Tourism Ministry.
(03/17/23) Views: 140
Trail and ultrarunners run mostly for mental benefits, study finds
At least once in their athletic career, every runner will be asked why they run. There are countless reasons why runners pick this sport, and everyone’s answer to that question—why?—will be different. However, according to a recent survey conducted by researchers at University of Central Lancashire in the U.K., more than 90 per cent of ultrarunners and trail runners are in the sport because it “is important for [their] mental health” and it helps them “feel more positive in life.”
The survey
The survey was conducted for the Trail Ultra Project, which, as noted on Instagram, “aims to explore and document the growth of trail and ultrarunning in North America and the U.K.” The survey, which was live on the Trail Ultra Project website for six months, from April to Sept. 2022, received more than 1,000 responses.
Of those 1,000 runners who filled out the survey, 536 were British, 379 were American, 36 were Canadian and the remaining 68 respondents were from 28 different countries. Just over 59 per cent of those who responded were men, and 40 per cent were women (0.9 per cent identified as non-binary). Ninety-one per cent of respondents had completed at least one trail race and a little over 70 per cent had run at least one ultramarathon.
Why runners run
Of all of the more than 1,000 runners who responded to the survey, the vast majority cited their mental health and increased positivity as a reason they’re in the sport. The survey asked individuals to say how important different parts of the sport are to them, on a scale of one to five (one being not important at all and five being very important).
When it came to the statement that “running is important for my mental health and helps me to feel more positive in life,” 68 per cent of respondents scored it at a five. Twenty-two per cent gave that statement a four, adding up to 90 per cent of trail runners and ultrarunners surveyed noting that the mental benefits of the sport were important to them. Only one per cent of respondents gave this reason a score of one.
The “mental health and general positivity in life” statement was by far the most popular of all the reasons listed. Other high-scoring options included how running provides respondents with a “connection to nature and wild landscapes” (61 per cent voted a five, 23 per cent voted four), the alone time running can create (43 per cent scored this at a five and 30 per cent said four) and how running can be an “escape from the pressures” of everyday life (36 per cent voted five, 27 per cent voted four).
Regardless of what gets someone started in running or what encourages them to stick with it, there is no wrong reason to love the sport. You may be in the one per cent of people who don’t care about running’s mental benefits, or that may be the biggest reason for your time as a runner. Whatever the case, if you can find your own answer to the question “Why do you run?” you’ll be set for a long and happy athletic career.
(03/20/23) Views: 123Ben Snider-McGrath
Ethiopians poised to dominate Rome Marathon
The Acea Run Rome The Marathon has proved a happy hunting ground in recent years for athletes from the east African nation
Winners of the Rome Marathon in the past include Emile Puttemans of Belgium, Bernie Ford from Britain and Stefano Baldini of Italy. But Ethiopia has dominated in recent years and the east African nation will be tough to beat again in the 2023 event on Sunday (March 19).
Six of the last nine men’s winners and seven of the last eight women’s champions in Rome have come from Ethiopia and runners from that country lead the entries this weekend too.
Fikre Bekele will attempt to defend his men’s title whereas fellow Ethiopian Zinash Debebe Getachew leads the women’s line-up.
Bekele ran a course record of 2:06:48 last year in the Italian capital but has since improved his best to 2:06:16 when he won the Linz Marathon in October.
Also expected to be at the front of the 15,000-strong field are Berhanu Heye and Alemu Gemechu of Ethiopia along with Nicodemus Kimutai of Kenya. Look out too for reigning Dublin Marathon champion Taoufik Allam of Morocco.
Women’s favorite Getachew has a best of 2:27:15 but will be challenged by Brenda Kiprono of Kenya, plus Mulugojam Ambi and Amid Fozya Jemal of Ethiopia.
The women’s course record is held by Alemu Megertu with 2:22:52.
Italian interest, meanwhile, includes Nekagenet Crippa (the older brother of European 10,000m champion Yeman), Stefano La Rosa and Giorgio Calcaterra. The latter, who is now aged 51, is known as the ‘king of Rome’ as he first ran the Rome Marathon 20 years ago and has completed 330 marathons during his life, won the world 100km title three times and has notched up 12 consecutive victories in the famous 100km del Passatore ultra-marathon.
A little further down the field, all eyes will be on Ermias Ayele, a former race director of the Great Ethiopian Run who is aiming to complete the 26.2 miles barefoot in memory of the great Abebe Bikila, who stormed to Olympic glory on the streets of Rome in 1960.
“Abebe Bikila laid the foundation for the success of not only Ethiopian athletes, but Africans in general as he was the first black to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games,” he says. “However, I have always felt that he did not get the recognition he deserved. Moreover, his story always inspired me and that’s why I am planning to emulate him in the same place and the same way, where he made history and pay tribute to all he’s done for athletics and Ethiopia.”
(03/17/23) Views: 114Jason Henderson
3-time champion Molly Huddle is ready for 2023 NYC Half
The United Airlines NYC Half came into Molly Huddle‘s life in 2014 and it was one of the key turning points in the now 38 year-old’s storied career. Never a fan of cross country or indoor track, the 28-time national champion liked to de-camp from her Providence, R.I., home in the winter to put in her pre-season base miles in the warmth of Arizona. The NYC Half, with its mid-March date, was the perfect race to close-out her winter training block. Her long-time coach Ray Treacy, whom Huddle affectionately calls “The Guru,” gave his blessing and she signed-up for the 2014 race. It would be her first-ever half-marathon.
With the temperature right at the freezing mark, Huddle ran the entire race with the leaders. She went through the first 10-K in 33:01, and the second in a much faster 32:21 as the pace heated up. Although too far behind eventual winner Sally Kipyego (1:08:31), she finished a close third to eventual 2014 Boston Marathon champion Buzunesh Deba, 1:08:59 to 1:09:04.
“It was good,” a shivering Huddle told Race Results Weekly’s Chris Lotsbom that day. “I think I stuck my nose in it in the beginning and the distance got to me a little in the end, but it was definitely a fun experience. I definitely want to do another one.”
The rest, shall we say, is history.
For the next three years Huddle would repeat the same winter program, training in Arizona then coming to New York for the NYC Half before starting her track season*. She won in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and in the 2016 race she set the still-standing USATF record for an all-women’s race: 1:07:41. During her reign at the top, she beat top athletes like Sally Kipyego, Caroline Rotich, Des Linden, Aliphine Tuliamuk, Buzunesh Deba, Emily Sisson, Edna Kiplagat, Diane Nukuri, and Amy Cragg. She also lowered her 10,000m personal best from 31:28.66 to an American record 30:13.17, a mark which would stand for more than six years until Alicia Monson broke it just 11 days ago at The Ten in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. She also collected $65,500 in prize money from the event which is organized by New York Road Runners.
Huddle returns to the NYC Half for the first time in six years on Sunday, but she’s no longer focused on winning. The race comes about 11 months after she, and husband Kurt Benninger, had their first child, daughter Josephine Valerie Benninger, whom Huddle calls “JoJo.” Speaking to Race Results Weekly at a press event yesterday in Times Square, she reflected on her history with the race.
“The last time I did the Half was 2017, I think, so a long time,” said Huddle, wearing a warm hat and jacket on a cold, late-winter day. “Great to be back. Great to be running again seriously after having the baby in April. So, this will be a good test.”
Huddle has been slowly building her fitness since giving birth to Josephine. She first returned to racing last August at the low-key Bobby Doyle Summer Classic 5 Mile in Narragansett, R.I., –very close to her home– clocking 29:17. Since then she has run in a series of local races in New England –a pair of 10-K’s, a 5-K cross country, and a half-marathon– to regain her racing chops.
Then, in January of this year, she ran the super-competitive Aramco Houston Half-Marathon and clocked a very good 1:10:01, a mark which qualified her for the 2024 USA Olympic Team Trials Marathon. She went back to training, and the NYC Half should give her a good reading on her progress.
“I’m really happy to fit it back in the schedule,” said Huddle, who is still breastfeeding and will be pumping while she is in New York (Kurt is with Josephine at home in Providence). “I feel like I’m having more baseline workouts now, less of a building phase and more back to normal. I’ve had a few little injury problems last month, but I’m coming around.”
A well-traveled athlete, Huddle is sticking close to home for her races now. New York is a three and one-half hour drive (or train ride) from Providence.
“I love racing within a drive distance of home now because of the baby, and this is an easier race for me to get to,” Huddle said. “So that’s good.”
Sunday’s race has yet another purpose for Huddle. It will kick-off her training for her next marathon, a distance that she hasn’t taken on since the 2020 Olympic Trials in Atlanta when she was forced to drop out with an injury. Although she wasn’t at liberty to reveal which race it will be, she said that the timing of the NYC Half was perfect, just like it always was.
“So, I’m really focusing more on the roads now; it fits in really well with that plan now,” Huddle said. She continued: “This is going to kick off a marathon build-up for me, so this will be a really good race to fit into my marathon block as we go forward the next two months.”
(03/19/23) Views: 103David Monti
Walelegn wins again in Seoul
Ethiopia’s Amedework Walelegn was a comfortable winner of the Seoul International Marathon on Sunday (19), crossing the finish line of the World Athletics Platinum Label road race in a PB of 2:05:27.
It was his second victory in the Korean capital, having won there just four months ago in 2:06:59 at the JTBC Seoul Marathon. On this occasion, the 2020 world half marathon bronze medallist went much quicker in what was just the third marathon of his career.
He ran as part of a pack for most of the way, passing through 5km in 14:51 and 10km in 29:33 before reaching the half-way mark in about 1:02:30, putting them on course for a finishing time of about 2:05 – just outside the course record of 2:04:43 set last year by Mosinet Geremew.
The pace dropped slightly leading up to 30km, which was reached in 1:29:31 with eight men still in the lead pack. Walelegn then put in a bit of a surge and covered the next 5km segment in 14:34 – the quickest of the race. It was enough to break away from compatriots Shifera Tamru, Haftu Teklu and Olika Adugna Bikila, who formed a three-man chase pack.
With a seven-second lead at 35km and a 27-second lead at 40km, Walelegn continued to pull away from his opponents, and went on to cross the line in 2:05:27.
The three chasers broke up in the final two kilometres. Tamru – a former winner in Seoul (2019) and Daegu (2022) missed out on adding another Korean marathon victory to his collection, taking second place in 2:05:41. Teklu, who was contesting just the second marathon of his career, was third in 2:05:53, finishing comfortably ahead of Bikila (2:06:29).
Only the men’s race had been granted a World Athletics label. The women’s race, entirely a domestic field, was won by Jeong Da-Eun.
(03/19/23) Views: 101
The Zurich Marató Barcelona returns for its 44 edition this weekend
More than 15,000 participants register for Barcelona, numbers grow by 50% compared to 2022 and international runners make up more than half.
The Zurich Marató Barcelona’s 44th edition will take place with 15,127 registered participants, recovering pre-pandemic numbers and growing by 5,000 runners compared to the previous edition.
This Sunday 19th of March, the Marató also returns to its large number of participants coming from all over the world. Runners of 119 different nationalities have chosen Barcelona to live the best possible experience in the 42.195 km distance, in a renovated circuit in 2018, monumental and fast at the same time, with the ideal climate to run with thousands of participants and a powerful civic atmosphere.
In this sense, the Councillor for Sports of the Barcelona City Council, David Escudé, has highlighted that “this is the Barcelona’s Marathon of the recovery of numbers. We are very happy because this year the overall participation of the Zurich Marató Barcelona has grown by 50% compared to 2022, exceeding 15,000 registrations. We have also doubled the international participation compared to last year’s edition and more than half of the runners (55%, 8,319 in total) come to our city from other countries. The female participation is again 25%, equalling the highest percentage in our history (3,781 women participants). Without a doubt, this will be the great running festival that we are all looking forward to, with the streets full of people cheering and enjoying this sporting event”.
On the other hand, the director of the race, Mauro Llorens, explains that “we have everything ready and we are looking forward to starting a great edition of the Zurich Marató Barcelona where, for the first time, we will be a Gold Label Marathon awarded by World Athletics. In Spain only Barcelona has this label and, in Europe, only three more marathons has it. This means having a great line-up of elite athletes and first class services for runners. We will be looking for the two circuit records to position ourselves as one of the fastest marathons in Europe”.
The new feature of this year’s edition is that World Athletics has awarded the Zurich Marató Barcelona with the Gold Label for 2023. This is a distinctive label awarded to an event when it guarantees a high competitive level, as well as quality and comfort for the popular runners (official refreshment points, physiotherapy and recovery services, etc.). This distinction, which represents a qualitative leap for the Marató, reinforces the city of Barcelona’s capacity to organise large-scale, international sporting events, making it the only marathon in Spain and one of only three in Europe (along with the Rotterdam Marathon and the Istanbul Marathon) to have this label.
In addition, the slogan of this edition is Run In The World’s Best City because Barcelona has been considered the best city in the world according to the Telegraph Travel 2022 ranking. The course of the Zurich Marató Barcelona is ideal to enjoy: it runs through the heart of a cosmopolitan city, which has the great modernist legacy of Antonio Gaudí or the Pla Cerdà and the Camp Nou, Plaza España, the Arc de Triomf, the Sagrada Familia, the Forum or the Seafront as some of its main tourist attractions to enjoy the Catalan capital uniquely, running on a fast and magical route.
A competitive group of athletes from East Africa, with up to seven athletes with a Gold label, will take the start 19th of March to try to run under 02:04h. In terms of personal bests, the Turkish athlete Kaan Kigen Özbilen, Kenya’s 5000m champion at the age of 20, with a record that already predicted a promising athletics career, stands out in the first place to win the Zurich Marató Barcelona 2023.
As is usual for most long-distance runners, Kigen moved up the distance to concentrate on the marathon. In 2015 he became a naturalised Turkish citizen and in 2016 he won the European Half Marathon runner-up medal and his first international medal with his new country. From this point on, Özbilen concentrated on marathon, running 02:06h in the Dubai Marathon and improving his personal best in Valencia, where he has participated in the last three editions: 02:04:16h in 2019, 02:08:50h in 2020 and 02:04:36h in 2022. In this 44th edition of the Zurich Marató Barcelona, he will be, a priori, the athlete to follow, as he will start the race as the theoretical favourite as he will start with the best time of all the participants.
Five athletes with records in 02:05h are, on paper, Kigen’s strongest rivals and the most qualified ones, as they are lower or very close to the current race record (02:05:53h), achieved by the Ethiopian Yihunilign Adane last year, starting with Joel Kemboi Kimurer (Gold athlete) with 02:05:19h at the Milan Marathon 2021. Likewise, with the experience of his 35 years and having run 11 marathons, Kenyan Kemboi Kimurer and his 02:05:19h in the Milan Marathon two years ago, is also among the favourites to win in Barcelona. Another Kenyan, Marius Kimutai, is also among the favourites. He has been competing for Bahrain for the past two years and knows the Catalan capital’s circuit well, where he finished sixth in 2021 (02:06:54h).
On the other hand, Ethiopia’s athlete Takele Bikila achieved his best time at the Seville Marathon (02:05:52h) last season in his tenth 42km race, and Eritrea’s Kibrom Ruesom at the Valencia Marathon 2020 (02:05:53h) in his second marathon attempt. Closing the list is Ethiopia’s runner Kelkile Woldaregay time of 02:05:56h at the Rotterdam Marathon, which dates back to 2018.
Kaan Kigen Özbilen: “I want to thank the organisation for inviting me to run in the best city in the world. Eliud Kipchogue is my mentor and teammate and he has wished me luck for Sunday. I am coming to Barcelona to set the course record”.
Marius Kimutai: “Sunday I will return to a circuit I already know with the aim of improving my personal best and setting a new record”.
Two-time finalist at the World Half Marathon Championships in Valencia 2018 and Gdynia 2020, Zeineba Yimer Worku (Gold Label) is the only female participant with a personal best under 2 hours and 20 minutes and is the favourite to break the women’s record set last year by Ethiopian Meseret Gebre Dekebo (02:23:11h). A time achieved twice, both times at the Valencia Marathon, finishing in 02:19:28h in 2019 and 02:19:54h the year after.
As a personal best and among the five Gold Label female athletes who will run on 19th of March in Barcelona, Yimer is the favourite among a group that also includes her compatriot, Ethiopia’s athlete Azmera Gebru Hagos, a cross-country runner who won bronze at the World Cross Country Championships in Punta Umbria in 2011, more than a decade ago. At the age of 23, Hagos made her debut at the 2018 Amsterdam Marathon, finishing in 02:23h and the following year, on the same circuit, she achieved what is, for the moment, her personal best (02:20:48h).
Zenebu Fikadu Jebesa (Gold Label) also repeats in Barcelona. The Ethiopian runner, third on the podium in the last edition of the Zurich Marató Barcelona (02:25:11h), will enjoy a new opportunity in a circuit she already knows. A fourth Ethiopian runner, Tsegaye Melesech, also returns to Barcelona after finishing second in 2017 (02:26:44h).
In terms of international experience, Kenya’s Selly Chepyego Kaptich (Gold Label) is a strong contender to face the Ethiopian trio of favourites. Kaptich is the U18 World 3000m champion and bronze medalist at the World Half Marathon in Copenhagen in 2014, as well as having finished third in another major event, the Berlin Marathon 2019, which she finished setting her personal best of 02:21:06h.
Among the European athletes, the participation of Delvine Relin Meringor, Kenyan until 2021 and Romanian since then, after her naturalisation by the European country, stands out. Meringor was a solid cross-country runner in her early days as an athlete. She made her debut at the 2021 Siena Marathon in 02:24:32h and won the Los Angeles Marathon a year ago (02:25:04h).
Selly Chepyego Kaptich: “I’m prepared for the weather conditions in Barcelona and I’m confident to beat the women’s record.”
(03/18/23) Views: 97AIMS
Chepkwony and Allam smash PBs to win at Rome Marathon
Betty Chepkwony and Taoufik Allam were the victors at the Acea Run Rome the Marathon, smashing their PBs by seven and four minutes respectively to win at the World Athletics Elite Label road race on Sunday (19).
Chepkwony took the women’s title in 2:23:02, while Allam triumphed in 2:07:43.
Ethiopia’s Zinash Getachew, Mulugojam Ambi, Jemila Shure, Fozya Amid and Kenya’s Brenda Kiprono went to the front in the early stages, reaching 10km in 33:28 while Chepkwony was 27 seconds behind.
Ambi, Getachew and Shure reached halfway in 1:11:07, inside course record pace (2:22:52), while Chepkwony had reduced the gap on the leading group to 17 seconds.
After going through 30km in 1:41:32, Ambi and Shure struggled in the final 10km. Chepkowny, meanwhile, reeled in the leaders and soon started to pull away. She crossed the finish line in 2:23:02, smashing her previous PB (2:30:28) with the third-fastest winning time ever in Rome.
Amid finished second in 2:25:08, improving her previous PB by three minutes.
“I am very happy with the win,” said Chepkwony. “I really enjoyed running in this beautiful city. I ran a smart race in the first half. I know that I can run faster, but I am happy with my performance on a difficult course.”
In the men’s race, a ten-man pack went through 5km in 15:00, 10km in 29:56, and 15km in 44:58. Five of those – Allam, Wilfred Kigen, Rogers Keror, Felix Kirui and Berhanu Heye – stuck with the pacemakers through the half-way mark (1:03:28), which was just outside course record pace.
Kigen, Heye, Keror and Allam reached 30km in 1:30:51 as the pace started to drop. Just a couple of kilometres later, Kigen and Allam pulled away from the rest of the field and had opened up a gap of 19 seconds on Keror by 35km.
Allam finally broke away from Kigen at 39km and went on to win in 2:07:43, becoming the first Moroccan winner of the Rome Marathon. Wilfred Kigen finished second, improving his PB to 2:08:45.
“I was determined to win the race,” said the 33-year-old, who set his previous PB of 2:11:30 in Dublin last year. “The pacemakers did a good job in the first half of the race. The final part was challenging because of the cobblestones.
In the days leading up to the race, World Athletics delivered a Race Emergency Medicine Course.
Diego Sampaolo for World Athletics
Leading results
Women
1 Betty Chepkwony (KEN) 2:23:02
2 Fozya Amid (ETH) 2:25:09
3 Zinash Debebe Getachew (ETH) 2:25:59
Men
1 Taoufik Allam (MAR) 2:07:43
2 Wilfred Kigen (KEN) 2:08:45
3 Rogers Keror (KEN) 2:10:50.
(03/21/23) Views: 97World Athletics
Kenyan Magdalene Masai will be going for the win at the Vienna City Marathon on April 23
Fresh from finishing third at the Rome-Ostia Half Marathon, Magdalene Masai will be chasing the Vienna City Marathon on April 23 in Vienna, Austria.
Sharpening her skills in Iten in Elgeyo Marakwet county, the youngest of the Masai running siblings, said she hopes she will run well and earn a slot for Team Kenya at the 2023 World Athletics Championships later in the year in Budapest, Hungary.
“Training is going on well in Iten and I hope to post my personal best in Vienna on my debut in a race that has been dominated by Kenyans,” said Masai.
Currently enjoying a personal best of 2:22.16 set in 2019 with victory at the Toronto Marathon, Masai said if she runs well, she is likely to land a place in the Kenya team to Budapest.
“I last represented the country in the 2015 Africa Championships, where I finished 4th in the 3,000m steeplechase. This is an opportunity for me to win the confidence of the Kenyan athletics authority,” said Masai.
Kenyans have won Vienna 17 times in the men's cadre and nine in the women's since the inception of the race in 1984.
The title is currently held by Vibian Chepirui, who won both the 2021 and 2022 titles while Cosmas Matolo is the men's champion.
“ Kenyans have in the past performed well in the race and it's because of this that we are always invited for the race. I want to run well on my debut in the race to enter history books,” she said.
The Mount Elgon-born athlete in Bungoma county returned into action last year after maternity leave, where she finished 4th in Toronto Marathon.
She then finished third in the Rome-Ostia Half Marathon where Kenyan Dorcas Tuitoek and Kenyan-born Israeli Lonah Salpeter took the top two positions.
“On my return, I did not manage to run well but at the moment, I have trained well for the championships,” she said.
Masai will be up against fellow Kenyan Visiline Jepkesho as well as Ethiopian Senbere Teferi and home girl Julia Mayer.
(03/21/23) Views: 96
Emmanuel Sabuni
