A Kenyan triumph as Koech and Obiri tough it out to win at the RAK Half Marathon

Kenyan athletes Benard Koech and Hellen Obiri were crowned champions at the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon in the northern UAE emirate this morning after an hour’s intense racing, but weather anomalies kyboshed record attempts on one of the world’s fastest 21km routes.

The light breeze which ruffled leaves along the palm-lined-roads was a welcome relief to most of the 5500 competitors – a record attendance – but for the elite runners, there was enough of a head-wind to negatively impact their times by a second or two per kilometre.

While Obiri lived up to her favourite tag, the 23-year-old Koech had not been tipped for a podium place at all, let alone a win. Not to be confused with two of his older Kenyan namesakes, his modest 10km best of 29:25 did not mark him as a significant threat and although his 59:57 half marathon in Japan last year was more impressive, he was well down the list of fastest 21km times going into the race.

But as the favoured athletes gradually fell out of contention, Koech grew stronger and the slightly-built man from the tea-plantation town of Kericho proved unbeatable as he out-sprinted race favourite, Daniel Mateiko, over the final kilometre to win by four seconds in 58 min 45 sec – over a minute inside his previous best time.

Kericho is 2184m above sea-level, not as high as the well-known running destinations at Iten and Eldoret, but fine for Koech. He draws inspiration from one of the town’s best-known residents, 80-year-old ‘father of Kenyan athletics’, Wilson Kiprugut Chumo, who won the country’s first Olympic medal in the 800m in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

““I’m very pleased with the win! I trained hard so I thought I had a chance today,” said Koech. “I felt that conditions were a bit windy for really fast times and perhaps that gave me a chance.  Also, I felt the humidity out there.

“I have never raced against Daniel before – I didn’t know him at all. I didn’t know if I could beat him but I decided to go hard on the last 1km  and he didn’t come with me.

“I’m hoping to race the 5000m or 10 000m on the track at the world championship in August. I’d like to race marathons, but only in two to three years’ time.”

Koech and Mateiko were prominent in the early stages, running close behind the two designated pacers and leading a ten-strong pack through 5km in a fast 13:40, well under course record pace.  But the fast start told on the runners, with just four –  Kenyans Koech, Mateiko and Richard Kimunyan and Ethiopian Andamlak Belihu – still together through 10km in 27:33.

Belihu was next to drop, leaving the lead trio to race through 15km in 41:29, 18 seconds off course record pace.  A kilometre on it was down to two, setting the stage for a thrilling climax as Koech swept to victory.

Six women, including all the favourites, ran together through the first 5km  – Kenyans Obiri and Brigid Kosgei and an Ethiopian quartet of Gotytom Gebresalse, Sunbere Teferi, Ftaw Zeray and Bosena Mulatie – and their time of 15:10 was on for a sub-64 minute finish time.

As with the men’s race, when the going got tough, runners dropped back and only Obiri and Gebreslase were left to run through 10km  together in just over 30:20.  Obiri was pushing hard and dropped her Ethiopian rival shortly after 14km, passing 15km in a fast 45:39 – still on pace to better the course record of 1:14:14.

But her solo effort into the slight headwind told and she lost 50 seconds in the final 6km, to cross the line in 1:05:05 – an impressive win, but some way off her hopes and expectations.

Gebreslase followed 46 seconds later in 1:05:51 with Zeray holding off Kosgei for third in 1:06:04. “The wind and humidity made it tough out there,” said Gebreslase. “And in the end it was too much for the record. I tried to stay with Hellen but she was too strong for me today.”

Spare a thought for 8^th-placed finisher, Camilla Richardson of Finland, who finished in tears. While her 1:10:08 improved her personal best by 43 seconds, her hopes of taking down her country’s long-standing national half marathon record of 1:10:04 were dashed when she ran off course.

“I don’t know how it happened,” an emotional Richardson said. “I followed a Kenyan runner, but we must have run off the marked route and ended running an extra 200m at least. I would definitely have got the record if not for that error – I was just 4 seconds outside the time.

RAK Half Marathon Results