FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ethiopia's Tsegay Adhane Ends Kenya's 14-year Winning Streak
at the Marathon Eindhoven
Ethiopian favourite Yemane Tsegay Adhane won a thrilling battle at the
conclusion of the 2013 De Lage Landen Marathon Eindhoven, crossing the line
in 2:09:11 and ending a 14-year Kenyan winning streak in the Dutch city on
Sunday (13).
Heavy rain meant that the course record of 2:05:46 was unlikely to be
challenged this year but there were still three men were in contention for
the honours with barely a kilometre to go.
Tsegay Adhane, who can boast of a personal best of 2:04:48 when winning the
2012 Rotterdam Marathon, then surged as the trio entered the old market
area in the centre of Eindhoven and shook off his compatriots Bazu Worku
and Belay Assefa, who finished second and third in 2:09:19 and 2:09:31
respectively.
"I am happy for the win, but not so happy with the time. I said before that
I wanted to run under the course record (set by Kenya's Dickson Chumba) but
it was not possible with this weather. I'm sorry, I wanted to do better,"
said Tsegay Adhane, although no apology was necessary after his valiant
performance after battling with the elements.
Sisay Lemma made it a quartet of Ethiopians in the top four as he came home
fourth in 2:09:44.
The weather forecast had changed dramatically less than 24 hours before gun
went in the Dutch city and the runners had to race in driving rain, a
strong breeze and cooler conditions than expected, with the temperature
just six degrees at the start.
A pack of 14 runners, including four pacemakers, went through 21km in
1:04.11, well off the 1:02:35 target time that had been discussed the day
before at the technical meeting.
Shortly after the halfway point, runners started to steadily drop off the
back of the leading group.
Six men - Tsegay Adhane, Worku, Lemma and Asea, along with their Kenyan
pacemakers Timothy Kiptoo and Sammy Kigen Korir - went through 25km in
1:15:48.
Kiptoo was to drop out shortly afterwards but Kigen Korir carried on
driving the pace with the four Ethiopians slipstreaming behind him as they
went through 30km in 1:30:59.
At that point, a winning time just inside 2:08 was still on the cards but,
as Kigen Korir started to drop back just before 32km although he stayed in
the race to the finish, the Ethiopians then started to concentrate on
racing each other rather than against the clock.
Lemma began to lose contact three kilometres before the finish as his
fellow Ethiopians commenced their three-way duel, with Tsegay Adhane
eventually triumphing in emphatic fashion.
Leading men's results:
1. Yemane Tsegay Adhane (Ethiopia) 2:09:11
2. Bazu Worku (Ethiopia) 2:09:19
3. Belay Assefa (Ethiopia) 2:09:39
4. Sisay Lemma (Ethiopia) 2:09:44
5. Sammy Kigen Korir (Kenya) 2:12:50
6. Andualem Belay Shiferaw (Ethiopia) 2:13:15
7. Abdelhadi El Hachimi (Belgium) 2:13:45
8. Hillary Kipchumba (Kenya) 2:14:05
9. Luka Rotich (Kenya) 2:14:49
10. Wesley Langat (Kenya) 2:15:42
Leading women's results:
1. Ruth Wanjiru (Kenya) 2:34:48
2. Andrea Deelstra (Netherlands) 2:35:39
3. Stefanie bouma (Netherlands) 2:38:18
Full results of the 2013 De Lage Landen Marathon Eindhoven (when available)
can be found here:
http://evenementen.uitslagen.nl/2013/marathoneindhoven/index-en.html
For more information about the Marathon Eindhoven (in Dutch and English)
the website of the event is: http://www.marathoneindhoven.nl
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