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Double victory for Greatest Race on Earth athletes in Mumbai Marathon
21 January 2007, Mumbai – Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth (GROE)
athletes John Kelai and Yang Feng Xia came home first today in the men's
and women's Mumbai Marathon respectively. Their victories will give hope to
their teams in this unique marathon relay series, as Kelai's team Team
Gowar and Yang's Team China were only 16th and 4th in their respective
competitions going into this third leg.
GROE is a team relay of four challenging marathons in Nairobi, Singapore,
Mumbai and Hong Kong. It has the largest prize pool of any event in world
athletics, of US$1.5 million.
A mere 18 years old, and having run just two marathons in the past, both in
her homeland China, Yang entered the marathon as a relative unknown. Her
winning time of 2:36:16 placed her ahead of the likes of distance running
legend Tegla Loroupe and race favourite Leila Amman, and reduces the gap to
the third-placed team in the Women's Team Challenge, Grazy Girls, from 28
to 19 minutes.
Yang said: "I just felt really strong and when I caught the leaders up at
38 kilometres, I knew I was going to win. Our team position after the
second marathon in Singapore wasn't as good as we'd expected so the
pressure was on me to produce a good performance, and that kept me going."
Loroupe clocked 2:42:52 to push her team Run for Peace up one place to
second, whilst Cyclone remain first nearly 18 minutes ahead of the chasing
pack after a 2:38:13 run by Jennifer Chesinon .
Kelai's winning time of 2:12:27 improved Team Gowar's position in the Main
Team Challenge by an astonishing ten places, leaving them now in sixth and
just one place below a prize-winning spot. Kelai, from Kenya, beat off
strong competition from pre-race favourite Melese Asfaw Gashaw who was
running for team Akaki. The Ethiopian finished just five seconds behind
Kelai and in doing so elevated his team four places to 3rd place overall.
Still leading the race for the first place prize of US$400,000 is Marathon
Centre Kericho, after Robert Kipyego clocked 2:14:59. They are now just 44
seconds ahead of Kericho in overall second place, for whom last year's
Mumbai Marathon winner Stanley Leleito and current course record holder ran
a time of 2:14:22.
The 2006/07 GROE Series sees participation from over 30 countries, the
focus of which is the Nations Challenge. This looks set for an exciting
finale in the last leg in Hong Kong, with the top three teams just four
minutes apart. Now leading the race for the coveted Gold Baton trophy and
the US$50,000 top prize are reigning champions Kenya. A spirited run of
2:15:08 by their runner Vincent Kiplagat Kiptoo puts them ahead of Zimbabwe
in second and previous leaders Uganda.
There are also six regional competitions within the Nations Challenge. With
just one more leg remaining, Sri Lanka have overtaken India in the South
Asia section, with Asela Bandara running 2:23:13 to overcome home favourite
Nathuram by a margin of five minutes.
As leader of the overall Nations Challenge, Kenya of course head the Africa
section. Indonesia have extended their lead over Thailand to more than 16
minutes in South East Asia, whilst South Korea have cut Taiwan's advantage
to 13 minutes in North East Asia. In Europe & Oceania, Australia are still
in front but have seen their lead over Denmark more than halved to five
minutes, and in the Americas Argentina have cut the deficit to Mexico to
under 20 minutes.
The field of elite athletes and emerging talent sped away from the
start-line at 7.40am from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, a World Heritage
Site, all taking on Mumbai's heat. In another increase on last year's
turn-out, it was estimated that over 27,000 runners participated in the
event.
| Main Team Challenge (open to all teams) |
| Position | Name | Team Name | Time (hrs:min:sec) |
| 1. | John Kelai | Team Gowar | 02:12:27 |
| 2 | Gashaw Melese Asfaw | Akaki | 02:12:32 |
| 3. | Tariku Jufar | ESMI | 02:12:49 |
| 4. | Stanley Leleito | Kericho | 02:14:21 |
| 5. | Robert Kipyego | Marathon Centre Kericho | 02:14:59 |
|
| Women's Challenge (open to all-women teams) |
| Position | Name | Team Name | Time (hrs:min:sec) |
| 1. | Yang Feng Xia | China Team | 02:36:16 |
| 2 | Jennifer Chesinon Lingakwiang | Cyclone | 02:38:13 |
| 3. | Tegla Loroupe | Run For Peace | 02:42:52 |
| 4. | Tatiana Mironova | Grazy Girls | 02:48:55 |
| 5. | Judy Kariuki | Kensky Athletics Int'l 3 | 02:54:48 |
| Nations Challenge (Open to National Associations only) |
| Position | Name | Nation | Time (hrs:min:sec) |
| 1. | Vincent Kiplagat Kiptoo | Kenya | 02:15:08 |
| 2 | Michael Ngaseke | Zimbabwe | 02:16:07 |
| 3. | Alex Malinga | Uganda | 02:21:22 |
| Nations Challenge - Regions |
| Position | Name | Nation | Time (hrs:min:sec) |
| Africa |
| 1. | Vincent Kiplagat Kiptoo | Kenya | 02:15:08 |
| 2 | Michael Ngaseke | Zimbabwe | 02:16:07 |
| 3. | Alex Malinga | Uganda | 02:21:22 |
| North East Asia |
| 1. | Mun Byong Seung | South Korea | 02:29:11 |
| 2 | Theng Yi-Thai | Taiwan | 02:36:40 |
| 3. | Ng Kam Tai | Hong Kong | 02:53:19 |
| Oceania & Europe |
| 1. | Ian Fisher | Great Britain | 02:31:30 |
| 2 | Jens Henrik Jensen | Denmark | 02:34:28 |
| 3. | Jarrod Shaw | Australia | 02:41:56 |
| South East Asia |
| 1. | Yahuza | Indonesia | 02:39:17 |
| 2 | Supit Chantharat | Thailand | 02:40:13 |
| 3. | Nguyen Van Long | Vietnam | 02:48:43 |
| South Asia |
| 1. | Asela Bandara | Sri Lanka | 02:23:13 |
| 2 | Nathuram | India | 02:28:18 |
| 3. | Niaz Ahmed Farooqui | Pakistan | 03:08:18 |
| Americas |
| 1. | Diego Fernandez | Argentina | 02:47:15 |
| 2 | Enrique Montiel Pina | Mexico | 03:01:30 |
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