Perine Nenkampi enjoyed a convincing victory in the women’s race of the Yangzhou Jianzhen International Half Marathon on Sunday.
29-year-old Nenkampi upset a deep field that contained several sub-1:08 runners and took the victory with a career-best time of 1:08:04, the second-fastest winning time ever in Yangzhou after the course record of 1:07:21 set by fellow Kenyan and world champion Peres Jepchirchir in 2016.
Nenkampi stayed in a leading group of eight runners in the early stages and pulled clear for the sole lead near the halfway mark. She kept widening the gap and never looked back, crossing the line with a margin of nearly one-and-a-half minutes.
Birhan Mhretu of Ethiopia clocked a PB of 1:09:33 to finish second, bettering her previous career best by 53 seconds. Bekelech Gudeta of Ethiopia, the eighth-place finisher from the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships, took the third place in 1:09:45.
Elsewhere, Valentine Kipketer was the highest placed Kenyan in the Nagano Marathon yesterday. Kipketer was placed third 2:35:03 as Pauline Wangui was placed fourth in 2:36:02.
Meskerem Hunde led an Ethiopian 1-2 with Hunde clocking 2:33:32 as Kebena Chele took second in 2:33:46. In the men's category, Alfred Kering was the highest placed in the men's category in 2:12:45.
The race was won by Jackson Kiprop in 2:10:39 with Derese Geleta of Ethiopia second in 2:10:42 with Japan's Naoya Sakuta third in 2:11:21
