Tirfi Tsegaye, photo by PhotoRun.net
Abera 2:04:24 and Tsegaye 2:19:41
DUBAI (UAE, Jan 22): As usual, fast times were set en masse in the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on Friday morning. In the men’s race, Ethiopia’s Tesfaye Abera missed the course record by one second but sliced his PB from 2:09:46 to 2:04:24. The top three finishers all broke the sub-2:05 barrier with reigning champion Lemi Berhanu and 2014 winner Tsegaye Mekonnen clocking 2:04:33 PB and 2:04:46 respectively as Ethiopians filled the top six spots. Through halfway, Dennis Kimetto’s world record of 2:02:57 looked in danger as a leading group of 16 passed through nine seconds under Kimetto’s record pace in 61:36 and passed 30km in a world record time of 1:27:20. Ethiopians also filled the first five spots in the women’s race which was won by 2013 champion Tirfi Tsegaye in 2:19:41 ahead of debutante Amane Beriso (2:20:48) and Meselech Melkamu (2:22:29). Abera’s halfway splits were 61:38/62:46 while Tsegaye recorded negative splits of 70:17/69:24. In total 13 men clocked sub 2:10 and 10 women sub 2:30. Beijing participant Mayada Al-Sayad achieved Palestine record 2:39:48 as 17th woman.
Editors’ Note: Dubai marathon lived up to the hype, with some very fast times for January.
