FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DUBAI MARATHON:
Tigist Ketema breaks debut world record in Dubai while a former
javelin thrower takes men's title
Did we mention that the Dubai Marathon has a tendency to be won by
debutants? Well, that tradition was bolstered in some style this morning in
the first major marathon in Olympic year when, first, nineteen year old
Addisu Gobena of Ethiopia, barely two years in training as a runner, beat
an experienced field to win the men's race in a time of two hours, five
minutes and one second. He was then upstaged less than a dozen minutes
later when a recent 1500 metres specialist, his compatriot Tigist Ketema
won the women's event in 2.16.07, beating the former fastest women's
marathon debut by 42 seconds. That record, incidentally was held by another
Ethiopian, Letesenbet Gidey.
And it doesn't end there.
With the return of two more Ethiopians, Dera Dida and Ruti Aga, first and
second last year, the women's race was always expected to be more
interesting than the men's in this, the 23rd edition of the race. But in
gate-crashing her peers' party, Ketema made it doubly so. With Aga
determined to avenge her close defeat last year, she took the early
initiative, and when the field began to split up after halfway, Dida began
to cede ground to her rival. But, loping along beside them both in the
early stages, then tracking Aga comfortably when they forged a lead
together, Ketema's ease began to look more and more ominous for the more
experienced marathoner.
So decisive was Ketema's move with less than five kilometres to run that
she ended up beating Aga by over two minutes. The latter ran 2.18.09 with
last year's winner Dida taking third in 2.19.29, still over a minute faster
than 12 months ago here.
The following press conference proved revelatory. After thanking her coach
Gemedu Dedefo for transforming her from a 1500 metres specialist to a
(successful) marathoner in barely a year of increased work, Ketema said, "I
was quite afraid of the distance before I raced a marathon, but at the end,
I wondered why". Her rivals might like to think it was beginner's luck, but
a chat with Dedefo dispelled that notion. "Judging by her training, I
thought she could do two hours, fifteen, but I can't be dissatisfied with
what she has done".
Now, if I mention that Dedefo is coach to recent new world record holder
Tigist Asefa (2.11.53 in Berlin in September), to Amane Beriso (2.14.58 in
Valencia a month ago), to Tamirat Tola (world championship gold and silver
at marathon), then you'll see the sort of company that Ketema is keeping.
The theory that excellence breeds excellence gets quite a bit of traction.
You might say the same for Gobena. He was rather more aggressive than
Ketema; he was always the one pushing the pace, even when there were still
a dozen contenders dogging his footsteps well into the second half of the
race. But his relentless assault from the front put paid to all of them.
And his story, while it bears similarities to Ketema's has one salient
difference. He too thanked family and friends for his success; but the
gob-smacker was the fact that until two years ago, Gobena was a mediocre
javelin thrower, with a best of 52 metres – which would barely trouble
officials standing halfway down the stadium infield, while the world record
is close to 100 metres. But Auntie Ruti (Aga is the younger sister of
Gobena's dad) suggested he might be better off running. So he started
training seriously with Aga. Two years later, he is $80,000 better off. "I
think I made the right decision," he said, in such a downbeat fashion that
should he eventually want another career change, he might try stand-up
comedy.
More seriously, these results will provide little encouragement to first
world long distance runners. Already long aware that being born and
nurtured at altitude gives a huge advantage to Ethiopians and Kenyans in
particular - training in thinner air, then coming to race at sea-level is
the human equivalent of turbo-charging a combustion engine - these results
from athletes who have barely had time to train properly for the marathon
will afford further dismay. One way to combat that would be to import
excellence. Both Melat Kejeta, fourth in the women's race, and Samuel
Fitwi, fifth in the men's were born in East Africa. Those excellent
performances, 2.21.47 and 2.06.27, easily personal bests have qualified
them to run in the Olympic Games for their naturalized country, Germany.
The expected warm morning didn't materialize, temperatures keeping at
16/17C (61/62F) throughout the race with a bit of cloud cover when it got
light after the 6am start. And the return for the first time in four years
to the fast course along Jumeirah Beach Road provided a new women's course
record for race director, Peter Connerton, who said, "Because of the
pandemic and the one-off run at Expo City last year, everybody was looking
forward to coming back to Jumeirah; and the women's result in particular
justified our expectations".
RESULTS
MEN
NAME COUNTRY TIME PRIZE/US$
1 GOBENA Addisu ETH 2.05.01 80,000
2 DUMECHA Lemi ETH 2.05.20 40,000
3 MEGERSA Dejen ETH 2.05.42 20,000
4 FUFA Abdi ETH 2.06.23 10,000
5 FITWI Samuel GER 2.06.27 5,000
6 DAGNACHEW A ETH 2.06.55 4,000
7 CHEBII Douglas KEN 2.08.15 3,000
8 TESFAYE Lencho ETH 2.08.25 2,500
9 TESHAGR Bayelign ETH 2.08.56 2,000
10 DESSIE Abebaw ETH 2.09.09 1,500
WOMEN
1 KETEMA Tigist ETH 2.16.07 80,000
2 AGA Ruti ETH 2.18.09 40,000
3 DIDA Dera ETH 2.19.29 20,000
4 KEJETA Melat GER 2.21.47 10,000
5 JEMAL Fozya ETH 2.21.53 5,000
6 ESHETE Shitaye BRN 2.21.55 4,000
7 ANMUT Atelel ETH 2.22.23 3,000
8 AFENIGUS Bet. ETH 2.25.57 2,500
9 NIGUSE Emebet ETH 2.27.15 2,000
10 SHIMELS Nurit ETH 2.28.28 1,500
For more information please visit www.dubaimarathon.org.
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