By IANS,
New Delhi : Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga won the Airtel Delhi half marathon with the fastest time of the year of 59 minutes and 15 seconds here Sunday. Fellow-Ethiopian Aselefech Mergia won the women’s race, clocking, 60:08:17.
Sandeep Kumar and Kavita Raut recorded the best timings among the Indians and pocketed $4,000 each.
It was an African sweep in the open event, with silver and bronze medals in the men’s category going to Kenyans Wilson Kipsang (59:16:0)and Wilson Chebet (59:34:0), receiving $15,000 and $10,000 respectively.
Ethiopian Gelet Getent (1:08:18) and Kenyan Peninah Arusei (1:08:20) finished second and third respectively among women.
Defending champion Rwanda’s Dieuone Disi, who came in 1:43:0 minutes in the 2007 edition, finished seventh here with 1:00:47.
Merga who recorded his personal best over the 21-km stretch, however, was given a stiff competition by Kipsang and Chebet, with all three recording 27:30:0 at 10km. It was at 19.5 km, when Merga broke away from the pack, clocking 54:10 as compared to Kipsang’s 54:12 and Chebet’s 54:15.
The competition was even fierce among women, with all the top three finishers at 1:02:24 at 19.5 km. It was indeed a close call for Mergia who won the event just by a second.
Both Merga and Mergia will take home $25,000 each with second and third placed runners in both the categories pocketing $15,000 and $10,000 respectively.
Among the Indians, Sandeep of Railways clocked 1:04:53. Kashi Nath (1:04:58) and Deep Chand (1:05:00) finished second and third, claiming $3,000 and $2,000 respectively.
Maharashtra’s Kavita clocked 1:17:12 took the honours among Indian women followed by Preethi Rau (1:17:20)of Karnataka and Sudha Singh (1:17:39) of Uttar Pradesh. The women too will win the same prize as their male counterparts.
Oldest runner in the open category was won by 76-year-old Ashish Roy clocked 2:48 minutes to finish his tenth half marathon bettering his last year’s timing by six minutes. Roy has also participated in 85 full marathons.