Elvan Abeylegesse runs a perfect half-marathon debut in the United Arab Emirates. © www.photorun.net
Turkey’s Elvan Abeylegesse came out on top in one of the world’s most-competitive half marathons, the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates. Abeylegesse won the race—her debut—in 67:07 minutes. The Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai won the men’s race with a blazing 59:43. A record 2,000 runners turned out in good weather conditions to take part in the scenic race, which runs along an area of mangrove trees and offers views of the stunning Hajjar mountains.
Originally, last year’s winner, Dire Tune, had intended to go after Lornah Kiplagat’s world record on Friday. The record, 66:25, was set at the 2007 World Championships in Udine, Italy. Unfortunately for Tune, the pacemaking didn’t go according to plan. By the five-kilometer mark (16:02), the lead group was already slower than world-record pace. And by the 15K point (48:03), the record was well beyond reach.
But that’s when the race got exciting. At that point, Elvan Abeylegesse, the 10,000-meter European record holder and winner of two Olympic silver medals (5,000m and 10,000m in Beijing), decided to make her move, and seized the lead. Tune was expected to hang with her, but to the crowd’s surprise, she couldn’t, and dropped back to eventually finish fifth in 67:58. Two Ethiopians did stay with Abeylegesse: Mare Dibaba and Aselefech Mergia. In the end, neither of them could contend with the Turkish runner’s strong kick, however.
Abeylegesse’s time of 67:07 improved Dire Tune’s course record of a year ago by 11 seconds and was also a Turkish record and the fastest time for the distance in the world this year. But the winner wasn’t entirely satisfied. “If the pace had been faster and more even, my time would have been a lot better,” she explained. But Elvan Abeylegesse can be more than content with this debut since it catapulted her into sixth place in the women’s all-time ranks for the distance (excluding performances made on courses invalid for record purposes). There were four more finishers behind the Turkish runner who broke 68 minutes—an unprecedented achievement for the half marathon. Mare Dibaba was second in an impressive 67:13, followed by Aselefech Mergia (67:22), Teyba Erkesso (Ethiopia/67:41), and Dire Tune. Another three women went under 69 minutes.
When asked if she would soon make her marathon debut, Abeylegesse replied that it would have to wait until after the 2012 Olympics and that her near-term goal is to run the 10,000m at the European Championships in Barcelona this summer. Abeylegesse has been working with her coach, Nicola Boric of Croatia, for the past ten weeks.
The pacemakers also didn’t come through in the men’s race. Had they succeeded, they would have put the field within striking distance of Sammy Wanjiru’s world record of 58:33. The lead group ended up going through 10 and 15 kilometers in 28:11 and 42:33 respectively. The pre-race favorite, Deriba Merga (Ethiopia), unexpectedly dropped out after 18 kilometers. Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya ended up winning a four-way contest in 59:43. His three rivals also dipped under an hour: Tadese Tola (Ethiopia) ran 59:49, Titus Masai (Kenya) finished in 59:51, and Getu Feleke (Ethiopia) followed him across the line five seconds later.
