New Delhi:
Braving hot and humid conditions, Kenya's Edwin Kipyego emerged victorious in the men's elite category, while Ethiopia's Yimer Wude won the women's title of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, here today.
Kipyego covered the 21.097 km distance in one hour and 55 seconds to pocket USD 25,000 winner's purse. He however was behind previous editions winning time of 59:30s, set by Lelisa
Desisa of Ethiopia.
Two-time winner Deriba Merga holds the course record of 59:15 seconds clocked in 2008, which is his personal best in this distance.
Last year's champion Desisa suffered from Achilles tendon pain during the course of the run to finish seventh with a timing of 1:02:50s.
Kenya dominated the men's elite field as Kipyego's compatriots Leonard Langat and Silas Kipruto finished second and third respectively.
Langat, who was matching the pace of Kipyego most of the distance, failed to accelerate towards the end and clocked 1:01:07s to settle for a silver. Kipruto clocked 1:01:57s to win the bronze.
In the women's event, Ethiopia had one and two with Yimer Wude emerging victorious with a timing of one hour, 11 minutes and 10 seconds. Her compatriot Waganesh Amare and Kenya's Helah Kiprop finished second and third clocking 1:11:12s and 1:11:18s respectively.
Two-time winner Aselefech Mergia of Ethiopia could not finish the race because of a leg injury.
Rahul Kumar Pal (1:06:12s) finished first among Indian men and overall 16th in the race. Nitender Singh and Indrajeet Patel came second and third among Indian winners respectively.
Sudha Singh was the fastest woman among Indians, clocking 1:19:34, followed by Kavita Raut and last year's champion Lalita Babbar.