Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
It was Ethiopia’s day at Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM) here on Sunday. For the second year running the Ethiopian due of Tsehay Gemechu and Andamlak Belihu retained their women’s and men ‘s ADHM titles respectively with élan. Gemechu smashed her own course record which she had set up in 12 months ago here by clocking 66:00 this morning.
Gemechu, still just 21, took 50 seconds off the time she ran in 2018 to win the $27,000 first prize at the IAAF Gold Label road race and also pocketed a course record bonus of $10,000.
Earlier in men’s section Andamlak Belihu also retained his title finishing just under seven minutes after improving his personal best by eight seconds from his winning time of 12 months ago, stopping the clock on this occasion at 59:10.
However, in contrast to Gemechu, he had the frustration of once again just missing out on beating the men’s course record of 59:06, held since 2014 by yet another Ethiopian Guye Adola.
The women’s race came down to a thrilling head-to-head duel over the final five kilometres between the defending champion and her compatriot Yelamzerf Yehualaw.A large pack went through 5km in 15:43 before a sharp increase in pace by the male pacemakers brought the leading group of six past 10km in 31:22, indicating that the course record was very much under threat.One-by-one runners became detached until only Gemechu and Yehualaw remained as they went through 15km in 47:05.
Coming into the final kilometre, Yehualaw – who won the African Games half marathon title in August – edged in front and briefly looked like she was going to cause an upset but with the finish line approaching Gemechu dug deep and managed to claw her way past her rival to also notch up a personal best while becoming just the second woman to defend in Delhi.
“I was tired after Doha (where she finished fourth in the world championships 5000m two weeks ago) but I wanted to come here and fight for the course record. I knew I was mentally strong,” said the 21-year old Gemechu.
Yehualaw, even younger than the winner having just turned 20 in August, took more than three minutes off her previous best for the distance when finishing just one second behind
Gemechu in 66:01.Zeineba Yimer, who started to lose contact with the leading pair just before 15km, held on to make it an Ethiopian 1-2-3 when she crossed the line in third place in 66:57, the same position as she had finished in 2018.
Kenya’s 2017 world cross country champion Irene Cheptai may not have made the podium but had a satisfactory half marathon debut when she came home fourth in 67:39.
The men’s contest also saw a thrilling head-to-head battle over the final few kilometres. Six men passed 10km in 28:08. Belihu was still accompanied by another Ethiopian, Solomon Berihu and the Kenyan pair of Kibiwott Kandie – who had made much of the pace in the middle stages of the race – and Alfred Barkach as this East African quartet reached 15km in 42:11 but between 17 and 18 kilometres firstly Barkach and then Kandie couldn’t stay with the relentless momentum and surges of the two Ethiopians and drifted backwards.
At 18km, Berihu pushed again and Belihu looked in trouble for several minutes but recovered his poise and reeled in his rival with little more than a kilometre remaining before pulling away for victory.
“At about 18km I started to suffer some back pain, that possibly cost me the course record. I’m a bit disappointed that I missed out on the course record again but I got a personal best so I cannot complain too much,” commented Belihu, who immediately declared his long-term intention to come back to Delhi in 2020 with the aim of attacking the course record again and trying to become the first man or woman to win a hattrick of ADHM title.
“I have been mainly focusing on the track season in my training until recently but I always knew I was going to come here and so I had that in mind. I am always very pleased to come to Indian races and especially Delhi as it was here that I had my first successes, and this changed my life.This race has put the frustration of finishing fifth at the world championships” (in the 10,000m in Doha two weeks ago) behind me,” he added.
Berihu, just 20, posted one of the fastest half marathon debuts ever when he came home second in 59:17 while Kandie hung on for third in 59:33.
Among the Indian men Srinu Bugatha continued with excellent performances in 2019 as he backed up his Tata Mumbai half marathon win with a victory at the ADHM with a timing of 1:04:33.
Suresh Patel clinched sliver after finishing the race in 1:04:57 and debutant Harshad Mhatre (1:05:12) won the bronze medal in the Indian elite men’s category.
In the Indian elite women’s category, Loganathan Suriya, the ADHM course record holder, emerged first (1:12:49), followed by Parul Chaudhary (1:13:55) and Chinta Yadav (1:15:28).
“I tried very hard to beat my best timing, but unfortunately I couldn’t. Because I broke away from the rest of the runners and took a lead early on in the race, I couldn’t record a better timing. I didn’t have anyone who could pace me throughout the race,” said Srinu Bugatha.
Three-time ADHM champion Suresh Patel said that he couldn’t execute his strategy properly.”Initially, I decided to stay behind the leaders of the race. I thought I will take over everyone in the last 10km, but that didn’t happen,” said Suresh.
Debutant Harshad Mhatre was running alongside Srinu for most of the half marathon, but then decided to stay behind in the latter stage of the race.”I realised that in the last two-three years, I have been training as a marathon runner, but for shorter distances. I ran 15-16 km with Srinu and he told me that time that we could break the course record. But, then I decided to stay behind and conserve energy since it was my first half marathon,” said Harshad.
Loganathan Suriya expressed that she enjoyed running along with Parul Chaudhary.”I had a great time running this year’s half marathon in Delhi. I ran along with Parul for most of the race, it was great that we paced each other in this half marathon,” said Suriya.
Parul said that she couldn’t train enough for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon and therefore decided to run along with Suriya for however long she could.”I wanted to record my best timing in this event and I knew that the longer I run with Suriya, the better my timing will be. Since I participated in a lot of events recently, I couldn’t practice enough for this event. So I had decided that I will run with Suriya for however long I could,” said Parul.
Chinta Yadav improved her timing by a whopping six minutes as compared to her performance in the previous Airtel Delhi Half Marathon.”I think I didn’t train very well before the last edition. This time also, I didn’t train too much, but I targetted this half marathon and therefore I think that’s why I improved my timing by a huge margin,” said Chinta.
Results;
Overall International Men :
Andamlak Belihu (ETH) 00:59:10; Solomon Berihu (ETH) 00:59:17; Kibiwott Kandie (KEN); 00:59:33; Alfred Barkach (KEN) 00:59:46; Josphat Boit (KEN) 01:01:18; John Lagat (KEN) 01:01:23;
Hagos Gebrhiwet (ETH) 01:01:46; Moses Kurong (UGA) 01:02:05; Eric Kiptanui (KEN) 01:02:23; Moses Kibet (KEN) 01:02:27; Mogos Tuemay (ETH) 01:02:48.
Women :
Tsehay Gemechu (ETH) 01:06:00; Yelamzerf Yehualaw (ETH) 01:06:01; Zeineba Yimer (ETH) 01:06:57; Irene Cheptai (KEN) 01:07:39; Edith Chelimo (KEN) 01:07:40; Alem Nigus (ETH) 01:08:25;
Caroline Kipkirui (KAZ) 01:09:44; Dera Dida (ETH) 01:10:14; Gete Alemayehu (ETH) 01:10:32; Sandrafelis Tuei (KEN) 01:11:56.
India Men:
Srinu Bughatha 01:04:33; Suresh Patel 01:04:57; Harshad Mhatre 01:05:12; Man Singh 01:05:16; Durga Bahadur Budha 01:05:27; Shankar Man Thapa 01:06:33; Karthik Kumar 01:06:35; Narendra Pratap Singh (IND) 01:06:50; Pradeep Chaudhary 01:07:17.
Women:
Suriya Loganathan 01:12:49; Parul chaudhary 01:13:55; Chinta Yadav 01:15:28; Kavita Yadav 01:17:50; Sonika, 01:17:58; Kiran Sahdev 01:18:15; Varsha Devi 01:18:46; Jyoti Chauhan 01:18:56; Nandni Gupta 01:20:20; Arpita Saini 01:20:52.