Internet Desk: Kenenisa Bekele an Ethiopian long-distance runner made it look so easy to win Kolkata 25K Marathon.With the timing of 1.13.48. He is a world record holder in 5,000m and 10,000m made a very good transition at the city of joy today.
Bekele made his debut by winning in Paris in 2014. His closest competitor Tsegay Tuemay was nowhere near as he finished his run. Augustino Sulle was third in 1.14.41.
Another Ethiopian Degitu Azimeraw also won elite womens category with the timing of 1.26.01.
In national section Avinash Sable, a 21-years-old runner from Maharashtra set a record by completing his run in 1.15.17 as he finished first. The previous record was with G.Lakshmanan who came third this year, although he got better timing than the previous year.
Kalidas Hirave came second in 1.16.18. Which is also better than his last year’s performance.
In Elite women’s national section, L. Suriya won. With a better timing of 1.26.53Kenenisa Bekele said: “I was pushing myself, but it was enough. I would have pushed my timing by 90 seconds at least if I had a pacemaker.”
The leading pack went through the 7.5 km checkpoint with a sluggish 24.24. Before the halfway mark, Bekele briefly went through a bad patch and drifted off the back of the leaders, with his compatriot Asefa Drio leading at 12 km in 39.09 and Bekele seven seconds adrift in fifth place.
Bekele however came back strongly. The Ethiopian went ahead with seven kilometers to go for a majestic finish.
“It was my first 25K and it feels good to have won it. It was a tactical race and I paced myself depending on the kind of competition I faced,” said Bekele.
“The weather was good, though a little smokey in certain parts. But it was not difficult to manage. I would like to come back here next year,” he said.
Face of the event was cricket icon Sourav Ganguly as he encouraged about more than 10,000 runners, along with long jump legend Mike Powell, the international ambassador.