REIGNING Sevilla Half Marathon champion Sebastian Kimaru Sawe won the Bahrain Royal Night Half Marathon at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) last night after staving off a strong challenge from Commonwealth Games 10,000m silver medallist Daniel Simiu Ebenyo.
The 27-year-old Kenyan, who also beat compatriot Ebenyo at the World Cross Country Championship trials just two weeks ago, repeated the feat as he crossed the finish line with a new, personal best time of 58 minutes 57 seconds with Ebenyo following closely behind with a time of 59:04.
Ethiopian runner Yomif Kejelcha, the 10,000m silver medallist at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, wasn’t far off Ebenyo’s pace, as he completed the podium, clocking 59:25.
Kenyan-Bahraini Abraham Cheroben managed a time of 1:00:19 to finish in fourth place while Kenyan Vincent Ngetich claimed fifth position after clocking a time of 1:01:06.
Meanwhile, Tigist Assefa, the Ethiopian runner who broke the course record at the Berlin Marathon last September by clocking a remarkable time of 2:15:37, won the women’s race last night as she ran the 21.1km distance in a time of 1:07:40.
Kenya’s Winfridah Moseti followed in second place with a time of 1:08:21 with her compatriot Agnes Mumbua Ngolo hot on her heels as she clocked a time of 1:08:51.
The winners of both the men’s and women’s races received $30,000 each, while the runners-up in both categories walked away with $20,000 each. The runners placing third were awarded $15,000 each.
Runners finishing in fourth till 10th place also received substantial cash prizes, with the fourth-placed athlete receiving $10,000 and the fifth-placed getting $8,000.
This was the third edition of the Bahrain Royal Night Half Marathon. Nearly 1,000 runners, both men and women from across the world, including more than 30 of the world’s best distance-runners, signed up to participate in the event which took place under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad.
A five-kilometre, ‘fun’ run was also held for amateur men and women runners.
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