The lead pack battles the winds on the Egmond beach. © Egmond Half Marathon / Organizer
Racing on a windswept Dutch beach in the middle of the freezing winter may not sound appealing. But it was a record 13,000 runners who turned out to run the 37th Annual Egmond Half-Marathon on Sunday.
And as expected, the Kenyans were there and in the front. Wilson Kipsang won the race in 65:36 minutes. Fourteen seconds behind Kipsang, Michael Butter of the Netherlands, placed second. (Butter was third last year.) Third place went to the Ethiopian, Chala Dechase, in 65:53. All the times this year were slower than those in recent years due to the icy headwinds.
There was an upset in the women’s race. The 21-year-old Workitu Ayanu, got the better of the pre-race favorite, Hilda Kibet. Ayanu, from Ethiopia, who has already run well on the track with personal bests under 15 and 32 minutes for the 5,000 and 10,000 meters respectively, won by a big margin in 1:16:33 hours. The Kenyan-born Hilda Kibet, who has been running for the Netherlands for over a year, finished in 1:17:32. Ilse Pol of the Netherlands took third place in 1:19:21.
Africa’s Cross Country Runners Dominate in Edinburgh
The demanding cross country course at Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park. © www.photorun.net
East Africans dominated a prestigious cross country race in Edinburgh, Scotland. The race, part of the International Association of Athletics Federation’s (IAAF) series, took place in chilly and windy conditions. Abebe Dinkesa of Ethiopia and Linet Masai of Kenya were the winners.
Abebe Dinkesa took the initiative, breaking from the lead pack on a hill that came at the end of the demanding course which was located in Holyrood Park in the heart of Edinburgh. Dinkesa, 24 years old, was not among the pre-race favorites, but was able to hold on to his 20-meter lead right to the finish. Dinkesa covered the 8.9-kilometer course in 26:51. This was a biggest win of his career. The second-place finisher was also a surprise. The Kenyan, Mang’ata Ndiwa ran 26:54—one second ahead of the man considered the pre-event favorite to win, Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea. Tadese was the 2007 World Cross-Country champion. Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya was fourth in 26:58. The best European finisher was the European Cross-Country champion, Sergiy Lebid (Ukraine), who was tenth in 27:23. Unfortunately, the Ethiopian superstar, Kenenisa Bekele, was unable to race due to an ankle stress fracture.
Britain’s rising star, Steph Twell, put on quite a show in the women’s race. The 19-year-old European Junior Cross Country Champion covered the 5.6K course in 19:16—an impressive fourth place and just two seconds shy of a place on the podium. Linet Masai of Kenya, who finished fourth in the Olympic 10,000m final in Beijing in a world junior record, won the race in 19:02. Mestawet Tufa (Ethiopia/19:13) and Viola Kibiwott (Kenya/19:14) finished second and third respectively. Another noteworthy finish: the runner-up in this year’s European Cross Country Championships, Jessica Augusto (Portugal/19:34), finished eighth.
No More Confusion as Boston Champion Cheruiyot Converts to Islam
Robert K. Cheruiyot, one of the most successful marathon runners in recent years, is looking to make a comeback in 2009. Cheruiyot has been recently sidelined due to injury. The Kenyan won the prestigious Boston Marathon for the fourth time in April 2008 and was one of the leading favorites to win gold at the Olympic Games. But his unfortunate injury forced him to skip Beijing and a fall marathon. Cheruiyot won the first World Marathon Majors (WMM) Series in 2007 and would have had a chance of winning in 2008 if he had been victorious in Berlin, Chicago, or New York this autumn.
If Cheruiyot runs the Boston Marathon on April 20th, he will run it with a new name: Ahmed Omar Kipkoech Cheruiyot. The reason for the name change: He has converted to Islam. “I have seen that belief, respect for others, and success are inseparable,” Cheruiyot told the IAAF at a soccer match in Nairobi last month. It’s obvious he has some ambitious plans: He wants to run the World Championships in Berlin in August and has made it known that he will be aiming for winning an Olympic gold in the marathon in 2012.
Kenya has so many like-named talented runners that there will still be a Robert K. Cheruiyot able to hold his own at world-class level in the marathon. Ironically, there is a 20-year-old newcomer with the same name who won the Frankfurt Marathon in October in a course record of 2:07:21. In future, there will be no danger of confusing the two runners—something that happened after the Frankfurt Marathon.
