As expected the reigning Olympic marathon champion Eluid Kipchoge from Kenya won the men's title in his Airtel Delhi Half Marathon debut here on Sunday. Among the international elite women runners, Worknesh Degefa from Ethiopia won the title with a timing of 1:07:42.
Clocking 59 minutes and 44 seconds, Eluid won the race in his first appearance since winning gold at the Olympics. Starting favorite on early Sunday morning, Kipchoge missed the course record by few seconds but nonetheless had no wobbles on his way to finishing first.
The Kenyan faced tough competition from his fellow contender Yigrem Demelash who missed the title by just 4 seconds coming in second. Kipchoge's friend, countryman and running partner, Augustine Choge finished third with 1:00:01 and would have been pleased to have secured a spot on the podium in only his second half marathon ever.
All three toppers were running together till the penultimate kilometer when all of a sudden Eliud took the sprint and broke away from the pack.
Yigrem Demelash and Augustine Choge both tried their best to go past Eliud but missed the top position by few seconds.
The first half of the race was slow, but past the halfway mark, the pace picked up with Kipchoge taking the charge and honors ultimately.
Kipchoge praised his coach for winning the title. "I have run in Delhi once before, 6 years ago at the Commonwealth Games. I am really happy to be a part of ADHM 2016 and with the guidance and support of my coach, I have been able to win this title. The running conditions were good, my training was good and with the right guidance from my coach, I was able to win the race. Along the route the crowd was also cheering us and that helped to further motivate us," he said.
Much had been made about the high levels of pollution in the city and there were apprehensions that it may affect the athletes' performance. Kipchoge, however, asserted that the pollution issue was never a problem. "We did not face any problem due to pollution. I want to inspire millions of Indians that you can run and follow physical activities despite all the pollution," he said.
The international elite women runners also had tough race as Degefa took the first spot by defeating fellow countryman Ababel Yeshaneh with a timing of 1:07:42, a clear ten seconds ahead. Helah Kiprop of Kenya finished 3rd with a timing of 1:08:11. In all, seven of the top ten international elite women runners finished in the sub-70 mark showing just how competitive the field was.
The action amongst the India men and women elite runners was just as pulsating.
Coming after a break, G lakshmanan took the top spot with a 1:04:37 timing, in a repeat of his performance at ADHM 2013.
With just a second separating them, MD Yunus came in second, and Man Singh followed two seconds behind.
Prior to the race, the confident trio had proclaimed that all the podium spots would be taken by these three itself, making it come true much to everyone's delight.
G lakshmanan was overwhelmed at winning the title again after 2 years even though slightly disappointed at not being able to set a new course record.
Expressing his disappointment at the 1-second loss, MD Yunus said "I will never forget losing by just one second. It was heart-breaking. I wanted to break the course record. That will be my aim next year."
In a sensational finish, the Indian elite women's title was snatched by Monika Athare as she dashed to the finish line with a time of 01:15:34 just one second ahead of half-marathon debutant Sanjeevani Jadhav. In the third spot was Swati Gadhave with a time of 01:17:43. All the three women clocked their personal best timing.
"40 minutes into the race I was in the lead. Swati covered up in the last 5 km and ran very impressively in her debut half marathon appearance. With just a few metres to the finish line, I was able to attack with full power and pipped her to clinch the title. Swati is young and has just made her debut, but she performed very well," Monika said.
Meanwhile, Swati added "It was my first half marathon, and I am happy just to have been able to complete it. The podium spot is very special to me, and I am happy with my timing."
The total prize money for the event is $2,70,000 and the International Elite athletes took home $27,000 each and the Indians won `3,00,000 each.