Violah Jepchumba and Shadrack Korir win Cardiff Half - global update
Violah Jepchumba maintained her unbeaten run with a gun-to-tape victory in the Cardiff University/Cardiff Half Marathon on Sunday, smashing the course record with 68:14.
The Kenyan, who ran 65:51 in Prague in April and has also had two more winning 68-minute performances in Istanbul and Gothenburg in 2016, was on world record pace through 5km as she clocked 15:30. The 25-year-old was unable to maintain that pace as she went through 10km in 31:30, 15km in 48:02 and 20km in 64:50 but it was enough for a huge win over Commonwealth marathon champion Flomena Cheyech with 70:05 and Lenah Jerotich with 71:23 for a Kenyan clean sweep.
There was also a Kenyan top three in the men’s race, with Shadrack Korir winning on his first race outside of Kenya in a course record and PB of 60:54 ahead of Paris Marathon winner Cyprian Kotut with 61:04 and Charles Mneria with 61:36.
Top British athletes were Dewi Griffiths with a 63:26 PB for eighth and Rachel Felton, who placed fifth with 74:03.
The 93rd International Kosice Peace Marathon took place on a sunny day with record total participation of nearly 12,000 runners in all races from 58 countries.
Kenya's David Kemboi Kiyeng attacked in the 38th kilometre and clocked 2:08:58 as a clear winner for the fifth best winning time in Kosice.
"My experience was the decisive factor," he said. "I was not expecting we will be in a group of six at 35km and later we were still three so I pushed. In my first race here I was very thankful for the support from the crowd and I want to come back to attack the course record 2:07:01.
Finishing second was 2011 winner Elijah Kemboi in 2:09:24 and third was Ethiopian Tadesse Mamo (coached by Haji Adilo) who on his marathon debut and European career debut achieved 2:10:17.
The elite women started well with a halfway split of 73:54 but in the second half the pace slowed significantly to a winning time of 2:32:20 for Ethiopian Chaltu Tafa Waka in her fifth marathon.
Kenyan Emily Ngetich was exhausted after her 2:33:57 for second, while in third was another Ethiopian Tinbit Gidey Weldegebriel with 2:40:49. Fourth was best Slovak Zuzana Korotvickova with 2:58:28.
Sarah Chepchirchir of Kenya won the Lisbon Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in 2:24:12 for a PB and course record.
The men's race was won by Kenyan Alfred Kering in 2:10:27 ahead of Reuben Querio with 2:11:09 and Eritrean Seboka Nigusse with 2:11:42.
Angela Tanui won the Trento Half Marathon in 69:27 ahead of Mary Wanjohi (74:59) and Martha Akeno (75:03). There was another clean sweep in the men’s race with Victor Chumo winning in 62:14 ahead of Joash Koech (62:23) and Hosea Kisorio (62:27).
Laila Soufyane won the Turin Marathon on home soil which doubled up as the World Military Marathon Championships in 2:36:32 ahead of Poland’s Olga Ochal-Kalendarova (2:39:01).
Morocco’s Youssef Sbaai won the men’s race in 2:13:43 ahead of Poland’s Arkadiusz Gardzielewski (2:14:39) and Kenya’s Simon Njeri (2:15:18).
There were Kenyan wins for Raymond Choge (2:08:39) and Bornes Kitur (2:32:16) in the Cologne Marathon.
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