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News17 Apr 1999


Kenyan double in Rotterdam

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18 AprilTegla Loroupe won the women's race in 2:22:49 and Japhet Kosgei the men's race in 2:07:09, to make it a Kenyan double in Rotterdam this afternoon.Kosgei's time was a new men's record for the course.

Loroupe was aiming to improve on the world best performance she set in the same race last year, but despite leading the field from the start, she was two mintues down on her last year's performance of 2:20:47.

Speaking after the race, she said that her leg muscles had started tightening due to the cold and the wind. She was on record pace for the first ten kilometres, but was two minutes off that by the time the halfway point was reached. Despite making up some ground, she failed to recover sufficiently to seriously threaten her previous best. Loroupe's final time of 2:22:49 was the best marathon performance by a woman this year.

Second place was taken by Loroupe's compatriot and training partner Susan Chepkemei, giving their coach Volker Wagner two firsts and a second place in the same day, after Joyce Chempchumba, who also trains with Loroupe and Chepkemei at Wagner's facility in Detmold (GER), was a convincing winner of the London Marathon, setting a world best for a women's only race in the process.

In the men's race, it took Japhet Kosgei three attempts to shake off Spain's Fabian Roncero, who was the defending winner from last year's Rotterdam Marathon.

Roncero was leading at the halfway point, which he went through in 1:02:53, but it was Kosgei who had the stronger kick in the final kilometre and broke the finish tape 13 seconds ahead of Roncero (2:07:24). Third place was taken by fellow Spaniard Julio Rey, in 2:07:38.

Leading results

Men
1. Japhet Kosgei (Kenya) 2:07:09
2. Fabian Roncero (Spain) 2:07:24
3. Julio Rey (Spain) 2:07:38
4. Simon Biwott (Kenya) 2:07:43
5. Yi-yong Kim (South Korea) 2:07:50
6. Muneyuki Ojima (Japan) 2:08:48
7. Abdesalem Serrokh (Morocco) 2:09:01
8. Joseph Mereng (Kenya) 2:09:37
9. Javier Cortes (Spain) 2:09:42
10. Simon Lopuyet (Kenya) 2:09:51
Women
1. Tegla Loroupe (Kenya) 2:22:50
2. Susan Chepkemei (Kenya) 2:26:40
3. Ana Isabel Alonso (Spain) 2:29:56
4. Christine Mallo (France) 2:31:50
5. Erika Olivera (Chile) 2:32:25
6. Hilde Hodenak (Norway) 2:33.27
7. Angelines Rodriquez (Spain) 2:35:29
8. Irma Heere (Netherlands) 2:35:53
9. Maryse Le Gallo (France) 2:37:00
10. Daria Nauer (Switzerland) 2:37:22


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