Disi and Alemu corner glory in Delhi Half-Marathon

Oct 29: Kenyans domination uprooted in both the sections, while Ram Singh comes first among Indians

Diudone Disi of Rwanda and Deriba Alemu of Euthopia outwitted and outrun their Kenyan opponents in the field, finishing off as the champions of the 2007 Vodafone Delhi half-marathon here on Sunday.

Disi completed his marathon with a new meet record time of 60.43 minutes in the men’s section followed by Kenya’s Isaac Macharia, who finished second after setting the speed halfway through the 21.097 km race.

The Rawandian said after winning the race, “I thought I could run the course in 59 minutes after the 15km mark, but then I started looking at fellow runners and lost time.”

Disi walked away with a shining trophy and $20,000. Macharia recieved $12,000 and a silver medal and Marwa got $8000 and a bronze medal.

Disi, the dark horse for the event finished sixth at the World half-marathon championships in Udine, Italy, two weeks back. He finished the race leaving behind the pack of great runners, which comprised Philip Rugut, the winner of 2005 Delhi edition, Matthew Koech, Kiprotich, Marwa.

Tanzania’s Dickson Marwa got the third place clocking 62.02 minutes ahead of Kenyans Patrick Mbuvi and Kiprotich. Meanwhile World No. 3 Wilson Kiprotich finished fourth, as he struggled towards the end after leading the race initially.

However, Deriba Alemu led a close first-second finish in the women’s race. Deriba won in 1 hour 10 minutes and 30 seconds ahead of Atsede Habtamu 1:10:36. Title favourite Alive Timbilil of Kenya finished third with a timing of 1:10.40.

On the other hand, women’s run had dramatic finish comparative to men’s section. World No. 5 Alice Timbilil, led the most part of the race with Ethiopians, Deriba and Atsede. Deriba maintained the momentum right through but somewhere lost at the end, but she had enough power to sprint ahead towards the end for podium finish.

“I ran aggressively till the 10 km mark and held out till the next five kilometres, but I could not come strong at the finishing,” said Alice after victory.

Ram Singh Yadav got the first position among the Indians and earned $2500 for his effort. Yadav overall finished 17th with a timing of 66.09 minutes ahead of compatriot Deep Chand and Mukesh Kumar. While in the Women’s section, Kavita Raut finished 15th with 1 hour 18.34 minutes ahead of Preethi Rao (19th) and Vaishali Chatare (20th).

Yadav’s effort was also a meet record among Indians, bettering his own (66:52 min) timing of previous year. In the women’s section Raut also bettered the meet record of 81:47 min among Indians, which stood in the name of last year’s winner Pampa Chanda.

RESULTS

Men: 1. Diudone Disi (Rwa) 1:00.43s, 2. Isaac Macharia (Ken) 1:00.48 and 3. Dickson Marwa (Tan), 1:02.02.

Women: 1. Deriba Alemu (Eth) 1:10.30, 2. Atsede Habtamu (Eth) 1:10.36 and 3. Alice Timbilil (Ken) 1:10.40.

INDIANS

MEN: 17. Ram Singh Yadav (Ind) 1:06.09, 18. Deep Chand (Ind) 1:06.10 and 19. Mukesh Kumar (Ind) 1:06.12.

WOMEN: 15. Kavita Raut (Ind) 1:18.34. 19. Preethi Rao (Ind) 1:20.38 and 20. Vaishali Chatare (Ind) 1:21.58.