Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga won the elite men’s race in the USD 1,55,000 Sunfeast World 10K Bangalore 2009 event, clocking 28 minutes and 13 seconds in Bangalore on Sunday.
Kenyan Mark Kiptoo came second clocking 28 minutes and 15 seconds followed by Bernard Kipyego from Kenya at 28 minute and 24 seconds at the event which saw a turnout of over 23,000, comprising participants from all walks of life, including students.
Merga was the winner of the Houston and Boston marathon races and Delhi half marathon.
Kenyan Wilson Kipsang, who was tipped to give a stiff competition to Merga, given the fact that he was second behind Kipsang in the Ras-al-Khaimah half marathon early this year, came fourth clocking 28:30.00secs.
In the elite women’s section, another Ethiopian, Mergia Asslefech won with a 32 minute and eight second effort.
Mary Keitany of Kenya came second at 32:09.00secs followed by Ethiopia’s Aberu Kebede at 32:11.00secs.
Kenyan-born Dutch woman, Hilda Kibet, who has the fastest time among the elite women with a personal best of 31:01.00 secs, finished fourth at 32:22.00secs.
It was a close finish in the elite women category as Asslefech reached the finish just one second ahead of Mary. It was a neck-and-neck fight between Olympian Mergia and silver medallist Mary, forcing Mary to settle for the second spot.
In the beginning it appeared that the race belonged to the Ethopian atheletes, but Mary overtook Aberu, pushing the athelete to the third position.
A dissapointed Mary said “though I was leading right from the beginning, I could not maintain my stamina just near the winning post”.
Mergia bagged the prize money of USD 21,000 while Mary took home USD 10,000 and Aberu 5000.
In the Indian women’s category, Kavita Raut ace athelete from Maharashtra and last year’s winner of Delhi half-marathon clinched the title by clocking 34:32. Olympian Preeja Sreedharan, who covered the 10 kms distance in 34 mins 40 seconds, bagged the second position, standing15th overall, while Preethi L Rao bagged the thrid position by covering the same distance in 35 min 21 secs and standing 17th overall.
It was a close tie between Raut, who finished 14th overall and Preeja near the finish but the Maharashtrian sprinter increased her speed to come first. Raut also maintained her lead inching ahead of Poland’s Karolina Jarzynska and Ethiopia’s Derba Godana who ranked 16th and 18th in the Elite Women’s cateogry.
Raut said “It is really great to win the title though I did not hope to finish first”. The winner said that she had improved her timing after winning 2007 Mumbai Marathon.
In the Indian men’s category, Sandeep Kumar from Uttar Pradesh won the title, clocking 30 min 02 seconds while defending champion Kashinath Aswale finished second with a time of 30 min 08 seconds.Santosh Kumar (Rlys) ranked third by timing 30 min 13 seconds.
Kashinath, who was leading the first six kms, was overtaken by Sandeep around 500 mts away from the finish.Kumar who also began well was unable to maintain his lead after 8km.
Kashinath said he had just returned after participating in the Asian Grand prix in Hong Kong where he finished second.
“We hardly had any time to rest and practice”, he said.
Sandeep bagged Rs 50,000 as prize money while Aswale took home RS 40,000 and Kumar Rs 30,000.
