Kenyans, Ethiopians share the spoils at Vadodara Half Marathon

Vadodara Athletes from Ethiopia and Kenya yet again proved their mettle in long-distance running by bagging all the top 10 positions in both men’s and women’s categories of the Vadodara International Half Marathon on Sunday.
While Ethiopia’s Shiferaw Belery and Mekkebu Birkeayele finished first and second respectively in men’s category, Kenya’s Silas Muturi was the third to cross the finish line. Belery and Birkeayele completed the 21-km run in 1:01:02 hours with the former beating his fellow countrymen by fraction of a second while Muturi took 1:01:06 hours.
In women’s category, Ethiopia’s Yeprgaul Melese bagged the first position (1:01:02) followed by compatriot Naomi Jepnejetich, who was fractionally behind her, and Kenya’s Jamila, who clocked 1:01:06.
The top three runners in both the categories took home Rs 2.5 lakh, Rs 1.25 lakh and Rs 75,000 respectively.
Interestingly, all the 20 positions in the main events were grabbed by Ethiopians and Kenyans. In the men’s category, first, second, sixth, ninth and 10th positions went to Ethiopians while the rest were bagged by Kenyans.
As many as 34 Ethiopians and 17 Kenyan athletes participated in the event.
Earlier in the morning, Chief Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the race at the Vaccine Ground. More than 40,000 people participated in the event