New Delhi, IndiaRunning in the third marathon of his career, Simon Maiyo of Kenya took his maiden title at the inaugural Delhi International Marathon.
It was a close race on the double loop course through the historic Indian capital and in the end Maiyo used his kick to reach the finish in 2:17:00 for the victory and USD 30,000 first prize. Kenyans Mark Yatich (2:17:03) and Francis Kamau (2:17:05) were second and third.
The pre-race favourite Leonid Svetsov (Russia) dropped out after leading the race for 27 km.
The women’s race was close as well, with Ethiopia’s Enantesh Tadesse (2:44:29) taking top honours over Monica Samila of Tanzania (2:44:33) and her Ethiopian colleague Kenneni Chala (2:44:37). Tadesse took home the USD 20,000 cash purse.
Julius Kibet of Kenya won the Half-Marathon with a personal best 1:03:44. His teammate John Murithi finished third today with 1:05:31 behind Ethiopian Tesfaye Assefa who clocked 1:03:47.
In the women's race, Kenyan women took the top three spots with Catherine Mutwa leading the way in 1:14:23. Seraklem Bisset (1:15:06) and Tadlech Birru (1:15:43) followed Mutwa in that order.
The Marathon, the richest in the country with a total prize money of USD 250,000 distribured over five categories, was flagged off by Delhi Chief Minister Ms. Sheila Dikshit. As many as 3000 athletes took part in the main Marathon and Half-Marathon events while another 9000 took the streets for the 4.5Km fun run (Great Tiranga Run), 3Km senior citizens’ run (Golden Years Run) and the 1 Km race for the physically challenged (Wheel for Freedom).
Originally scheduled in last December but postponed to 12 February, this year for want of date saw a fewer number of foreign athletes take part. However, the London-based Sports Management Group is confident of getting the event an important place in the coming years.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
