Josephat Bett and Brilliant Kipkoech warded off spirited competition to clinch the respective men and women’s titles at the fourth edition of Beyond Zero Half Marathon in Nairobi yesterday.
Bett clocked 1:01:34 to win the mens’ race, closely followed by Philemon Rono in 1:01:34.
A pack of 12 athletes broke away from the rest in the elite runners after the 3.5km mark and stuck together till the last 100m where each persons finishing kick determined the final placings.
The third and fourth places were grabbed by Simon Kirui and William Wanjiku who were given identical times of 1:01:40 as Hillary Kipchumba and Charles Mneria stormed the cash bracket in 1:01:44 and 1:01:50 respectively.
In the women’s category, the winner was decided by a second as Jepkorir tore the tape in 1:07:02 ahead of Everlyne Chirchir (1:07:03). Bornes Jepkirui came home 20 seconds later to sealed a podium places.
Coming in a distant fourth was Caroline Kilel, who clocked 1:11:04, followed by Lucy Wanjiku 1:01:37 as Sheila Chesang stopped her watch on the 1:12:09.
The 21km winners (male and female) pocketed Sh250,000 each while runners-up took home Sh125,000 as third placed finishers were awarded Sh75,000.
Margaret Chelimo, Irene Kimais and Monica Ngige grabbed the podium places in the women’s 10km race as Vincent Ng’etich, Alexander Mutiso and Shadrack Koech topped the men’s class in that order.
Over 25,000 people took part in the event pioneered by the country’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta aimed at raising funds to improve maternal health and reduce child mortality rate.
The event was graced by President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto — who ran 21km — Central Bank of Kenya governor Patrick Njoroge and the new Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Amina Mohammed.
