Kenyans falter as Ethiopia dominates Tokyo Marathon
By BERNARD ROTICH
Ethiopian athletes dominated this year's Tokyo Marathon edition
winning both the men and women's categories in unfavourable wet and
windy conditions on Sunday in Japan.
Birhanu Legese led
in the men’s category cutting the tape in 2:04:48 ahead of Kenyans
Bedan Karoki, who clocked 2:06:48, his personal best AS Dickson Chumba
settled for third position in 2:08:44.
It was a tough
battle between the Ethiopians and Kenyans but Legese managed to break
away from the pack after the pacemaker dropped at the 30km mark.
The Japan-based Karoki gave chase but Legese was in a class of his own after widening the gap to about 100m.
Another Kenyan athlete who is based in Japan, Simon Kariuki settled for the fourth position after clocking 2:09:41.
It
was a clean sweep for Ethiopia in the women's category after Ruti Aga,
who was second last year, managed to shake off a strong field to win the
race in 2:20:40.
Her compatriot Helen Tola was in
second place after running in 2:21:01, while Shure Demise was in third
place running in 2:21:05.
Kenya's Florence Kiplagat
could not shake off her fourth position tag after clocking 2:21:50,
while Joan Chelimo, who was debuting, managed to settle for eighth
position running in 2:26:54.
Bahrain's Rose Chelimo (2:30:35) and Kenya's Ruth Chebitok (2:31:19) were in the ninth and 10th position respectively.
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