News12 Apr 2005


Admassu wins charity race in Bahir Dar

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Yibeltal Admassu, who was fourth in 2001 World Championship 10,000m seen running in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia (© E. Negash)

Yibeltal Admassu, who was fourth in 2001 World Championship 10,000m  in Edmonton, Canada, won the 2005 Bahir Dar 10km Run for Girls’ Education in the northern Ethiopian city of Bahir Dar on Sunday (10 April).

Admassu, who hails from the city and is a former regional 10,000m champion, looked clearly a class apart in the 10km race which attracted 8000 participants taking the win in 30:30.

Thousands took to the streets in Ethiopia’s third largest city to witness the third edition of this mass participation organized by the Great Ethiopian Run outside the capital Addis Ababa. And with the news of the city’s most famous runner in recent years taking part, the crowd was certainly in the mood for trotting the 10kms.

Admassu had a leading pack of four runners with him through the first kilometre, but the race ended as a contest by the third kilometre when the former Ethiopian cross country 12km bronze medallist made his decisive move.

The inexperienced trailing pack could not handle his spurt of energy and Admassu continued to increase his lead over the other runners. By the 5th kilometre, his lead had increased to 100m and by the seventh, it was close to 200m.

And when he crossed the line in a reasonable time of 30:30, he was nearly 400m clear of second placed finisher Berhanu Gutema.   

In his post-race comments, Admassu said that he was pleased to make a winning return to his home city. “It is nice to be back and win here,” he said. “The competition was not difficult. But the dust along the course was tough.” 

In the women’s race, little-known Fantu Gutema took a commanding win more than 15 seconds ahead of her closest opponent (Finishing time tbc).

Elshadai Negash for the IAAF

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