New Delhi: Edwin Kipyego from Kenya won the title in men's elite category at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, whereas Ethiopia's Yimer Wude won the women's title, here on Sunday. Rahul Kumar Pal (1:06:12s) and Sudha Singh (1:19:34) were the fastest runners from India in men’s and women’s category respectively.
Kipyego ran 1:00:55s to cover 21.097 to beat his fellow countrymen Leonard Langat and Silas Kipruto who finished second and third with the timings of 1:01:07 and 1:01:57 respectively.
Kipyego, who won USD 25,000, failed to break record of 59:30s set by Desisa last year. All the three Kenyans were neck to neck till the halfway stage, but Kipyego accelerated and took the lead to win.
Kipyego after winning the race said, “It is a great feeling that I have won the race. It was a great race right from the first minute. It was hot and humid and that made things difficult. After the 7km mark I started to increase the pace and was leading at the 11th km mark, I did not expect that I will win.”
Langat who won the silver medal said, “I tried very hard in the final fifteen minutes to increase the pace but couldn’t do that because of the heat and the humidity, I was almost exhausted after the race. Overall, I am very happy with my performance.”
In the women’s category, Wude clocked 1:11:10 while Waganesh Amare and Helah Kiprop finished second and third respectively with timings of 1:11:12 and 1:11:18. The race was very close and the result was decided in the matter of few seconds.
After winning the race, Wudu said, “I am very happy with the result, it was very hot and that affected all the runners. In 2010, I finished second and now I am the champion, it is a very happy feeling.”
Rahul Kumar Pal (1:06:12s) finished first among Indian men, his overall position was 16th. Nitender Singh and Indrajeet Patel came second and third with timings of 1:06:14 and 1:06:15. Sudha Singh was the fastest Indian women clocking 1:19:34. Kavita Raut and Lalita Babbar finished as second and third fastest among Indian women with timings of 1:19:53 and 1:20:47.
Rahul Kumar Pal who hails from Army Sports Pune, after his achievement said, “This was the second time that I was participating in a marathon and I feel very good that I was the fastest among Indians. This timing is my personal best and being a 5,000m runner it is a good achievement.
Sudha said, “The race was very good, it was very hot out there and that made things difficult. I have only being practicing for this event from the past 15 days, so being the fastest Indian women is a very happy moment for me.”
By Indian Sports News Network
