Rop
Josephat and Rodica Chirita win Istanbul Eurasia Marathon
Yunus Mollaolu
It was a warm morning with a slight breeze. The start was given together by the Mayor and the Governor of Istanbul at 9:00 a.m. locally. The early leaders were the favourites Taye Moges (ETH), Rop Josephat (KEN), Anatoly Archakov (RUS) and Koech Jonah (KEN) closely pursued by Valeriy Zolotkov (RUS), Frans Chauke (RSA), Furgan Boyan (TUR), Salvatore Bettiol (ITA), Nur Billen (ETH), Isaac Chemobo (KEN), and Cihangir Demirel (TUR). The pack passed the 5K mark in 16:36 and the 10K in 33:02. Boyan of Turkey took the lead at the 15Km mark which he reached in 49:22, only 10 seconds ahead of the others.
By the 20Km mark, Jonah, Josephat, Chauke and Chemobo increased the pace, leaving the second pack slightly behind. The five leaders passed at the 20Km mark in 1:05:10. And at halfway, Moges, Billen and Salvatore caught the front pack which clocked 1:08:15. The group of seven kept the pace, passing at 25Km in 1:21:00. Nobody pushed harder until the 30th kilometre and the clock showed 1:37:06 when the same seven were there. At around 31Km, Chemobo of Kenya was suffering from a cramp in his left leg and was forced to drop out. At the moment, Salvatore Bettiol, the Italian veteran also fell back. Moges, going for his fourth consecutive win here, forced the tempo through the 33Km but Josephat, Chauke and Jonah did not let him go away. Heading for the 35K mark, Moges and Josephat increased the pace and the others could not cope with them. The closest pursuer was Jonah, who had already fallen more than 100m behind at the 34th kilometre.
Josephat took the lead shortly before the 35K mark. Passing 35K reached in 1:53:25, the 31 year-old Kenyan looked fit and increased his lead throughout the remainder of the race. He reached the 40Km mark in 2:09:20 and had a comfortable win with 2:17:03. Moges came in second with 2:18:21 and Chauke the third, 2:18:43.
The women's race was led by Chebet Grace of Kenya from the start to the 38K. Grace failed to maintain her pace from then on and Rodica Adriana Chirita (ROM) succeeded to be the first women crossing the line, her time being 2:37:39. Dita Constantina, another Romanian followed her teammate with 2:37:57 and Natalia Galushko (BLR) took the third place with 2:38:17.
Leading Results
Men
1 Rop JOSEPHAT KENYA 2:17:03
2 Taye MOGES ETHIOPIA 2:18:21
3 Frans CHAUKE R.S.AFRICA 2:18:43
4 Koech JONAH KENYA 2:21:00
5 Nur BILLEN ETHIOPIA 2:21:31
6 Bettiol SALVATORE ITALY 2:21:38
7 Valeriu VLAS MOLDOVA 2:24:21
8 Valery ZOLOTKOV RUSSIA 2:25:16
9 Cihangir DEMIREL TURKEY 2:26:32
10 Anatoly ARCHAKOV RUSSIA 2:26:45
Women
1 Rodica Adriana CHIRITA ROMANIA 2:37:39
2 Dita COSTANTINA ROMANIA 2:37:57
3 Natalia GALUSHKO BELARUS 2:38:17
4 Chebet GRACE KENYA 2:40:22
5 Angelina KANANA KENYA 2:44:08
15km race
Men
1 Abdülkadir TÜRK TURKEY 45:23:00
2 Metin SAZAK TURKEY 46:43:00
3 A. Haydar KAMBER TURKEY 48:06:00
4 Ikram ÇINTIMAR TURKEY 48:39:00
5 Mustafa YOLDAR TURKEY 48:47:00
Women
1 Ebru KAVAKLIOGLU TURKEY 52:25:00
2 Gülal YETER TURKEY 54:37:00
3 Hasibe ONAT TURKEY 54:42:00
4 Gülcan ÖZKAN TURKEY 54:50:00
5 Gülsen ASIKOGLU TURKEY 56:58:00
