Desisa Leads Home a Record Eight Men Under the Hour at RAK Half Marathon

Published by IAAF on February 14, 2014

Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa won the 2014 RAK Half Marathon in 59:36, with a record eight men coming home under the hour in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, on Friday morning (14).

It was Desisa’s second fastest time of his career and just six seconds away from the 2013 IAAF World Championships marathon silver medallist's best time, set in the 2011 New Delhi race.

Desisa, the 2013 Boston Marathon champion who has already announced that he will defend that title in April, came home three seconds in front of Eritrea’s Nguse Amlosom, who set a personal best by just over a minute.

In a thrilling race at the sharp end, with the first eight finishers crossing the line within 20 seconds of each other, the Kenyan quartet of Wilson Kiprop, Bernard Koech, Bernard Kipyego and Micah Kogo followed the leading pair home in 59:45, 59:46, 59:47 and 59:49 respectively.

Ethiopia’s Feyisa Lelisa and Kenya’s Paul Longyangata the other men to finish inside the hour, an unprecedented feat in a half marathon, and were seventh and eighth in 59:51 and 59:54.

Neverthless, there was a slightly anti-climactic feeling when the results were examined because faster times almost certainly could have been achieved, perhaps even Patrick Makau’s course record of 58:52 threatened, if the field had dared to race a little more audaciously over the first 5km, which was reached in 14:31.

After that initial reluctance to attack the distance, things livened up markedly in the men’s race, with Koech, Desisa and eventual third placer Wilson Kiprop pushing the tempo, resulting in a 10km split of 28:30 for the leading pack of 10 men.

enya’s London 2012 Olympic Games silver medallist Priscah Jeptoo was a much clearer winner of the women’s race in 1:07:02, finishing more than a minute in front of her second-placed compatriot Flomena Cheyech, who was second in 1:08.13.

In similar fashion to the men’s race, there was a slow opening 5km in 17:14 but then Jeptoo started to pull away in emphatic fashion, demonstrating that she has picked up in 2014 where she left off last year, when she won the New York Marathon last November.

Her acceleration over the 5km to 10km, reaching in 32:41, meant a 15:27 split; with only Cheyech, Ethiopia’s Guteni Shone and Kenya’s Helah Kiprop able to stay within a few seconds of her notoriously flailing gait.