LAHORE, Jan 30: Tseko Mpolokeng of South Africa and Jane Kairiuki of Kenya outran others to emerge champions in men's and women's categories, respectively, of the main event of Lahore Marathon (42.195KMs) held on Sunday.
In the 10km also an African runner stole the limelight grabbing the top position. The 6km race in which almost all the participants were local, was a flop. Mpolokeng clocked two hours 16.57 seconds to cover the 42.195 km distance. The 28-year-old could not improve his personal best which was two hours 14 seconds.
"It is my second participation in marathon and I managed to win in the second attempt which is very encouraging for me," the champion said. "Yes, I could not improve my timing and it is because I had been interrupted on the way by people who had come on the course," he said.
The other runners, who were interviewed, also made the same complain. Mpolokeng, however, said that except that arrangements made for the race were impressive. Mpolokeng received the cash prize of US$10,000 from Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi, who was the chief guest at both the opening and closing ceremonies.
David Menyo of Kenya secured the second spot reaching the distinction 14 seconds behind Mpolokeng (two hours 17.11 seconds). Menyo, 31, who also failed to improve his best timing which was two hours 14 seconds received the cash prize of US$7,500.
"Yes, I was disturbed by the crowd but I had taken the wrong road; otherwise, I could have won," he said. Jermaine Boki, 25, of Tanzania, finished third, clocking two hours 17.27 seconds. Like the top two position-holders, Boki also had the identical best timing of two hours 14 seconds.
Among the top 20 men, 17 were Africans. The three others were from Russia, Ukraine and England. A special prize for the Pakistani athletes went to Mohammad Aslam of the Army who achieved the best time among Pakistani runners. He covered the distance in two hours 43.39 seconds to receive a cash prize of US$2,000.
Waris Masih, a seasoned athlete of the Army and the national marathon champion clocked two hours 46.05 seconds to claim the second position among Pakistanis and pocketed US$1,500.
Niaz Ahmad Farooqui, Rehmat Ali, Bilal Sami, Ehsan Ali, Abdul Qadir, Syed Shafiqur Rehman, Mohammad Rasib were other Pakistanis who completed the distance. Jane Kairuki romped home in two hours 43.03 seconds to seize the first position among women and claimed a cash prize of US$10,000.
Kairuki must be the most satisfied athlete of the day because she also improved her previous best timing of two hours 45 seconds. Tadelech Birra of Ethiopia took the second position, clocking two hours 43.45 seconds - far behind her best timing of two hours 30 seconds.
Naomi Wangui, 26, of Kenya grabbed the third position, clocking two hours 43.56 seconds. Among the top 12 women, six positions were grabbed by Africans. Three runners from Russia and one each from Sweden, Kenya and Belarus claimed the remaining six spots.
Two Pakistani women, Shazia Hidayat and Sadia Parveen who had completed the race, were given special prizes. Shazia covered the distance in four hours 18.06 seconds and Sadia in four hours 19.10 seconds, almost double the time clocked by the winner.
The marathon started off at the Qadhafi Stadium and its route was Ferozepur Road-Mozang Chungi, Chauburji, MAO College, Data Darbar, Minar-i-Pakistan and back; through the Lahore Fort, the Government College, The Mall, The Mall Underpass, FC College Underpass, Kalima Chowk, Model Town Morr-Qadhafi Stadium.
10KM RACE: Shiferanhu Dewadoros of Ethiopia excelled to win the first position in 10km race for men. He clocked 28.29 minutes and received a cash prize of US$ 2500.
"The arrangements were excellent and I faced no problem," the winner said. John Murithi of Kenya came second clocking 28.44 minutes to earn US$2,000. Wilfred Taragon (Kenya) finished third.
Among women, Catherine Mutwa of Kenya was the winner, clocking 34.07 minutes. Alem Bezabih of Ethiopia got the second spot clocking 34.28 seconds, far behind the previous best of 33 minutes, to pocket US$2,000.
Toni Macintosh (Scotland) earned the third position and received US$1,500. In the 6km race, over 10,000 runners all Pakistanis participated. The race was to begin at 10:30 but the athletes took the start at 10:15 without permission from the officials.
Another race started at the scheduled time but due to protest from the runners of first race, the organizers decided not to give any cash prize for the race. However, they announced three winners, Hamidur Rehman, Ashiq Husain, Faiz Akbar all from the Army.
Over 14,000 athletes competed in the three races, around 10,000 in the 6 km-run, 3,500 in 10km race and 500 in the marathon. Sixty foreigners of 16 countries ran the marathon.
RESULTS:
42.195KM :
MEN: Tseko Mpolokeng (South Africa) 2;16.57; David Menyo (Kenya) 2:17.11; Jermaine Boki (Tanzania) 2:17.27.
