Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
Milan, Italy
29 March 2011
After finishing fourth in the World Cross Country Championships in Spain 10 days ago, Matthew Kisorio redeemed himself to winning the 40th edition of the Stramilano Half Marathon in Milan, Italy over the weekend.
The Kenyan improved his personal best by seven seconds to record 60:03 minutes ahead of fellow Kenyan, 18-year-old Eric Ndiema, who finished second in 60:20.
Ehiopia’s Dereje Deme Hailegiorgis completed the podium timed at 60:25. The race set off at a fast pace on the flat Milan course inside a 59:25-59:30 pace. Peter Kurui led a six-man group who covered 5km in 14:06. The leading pack also featured Ethiopians Shumi Dechasa, Atalay Yrsaw Tegene, Hailegiorgis and Kisorio and Ndiema.
The pack continued to push hard inside the first 10km (8km in 22:36 and 10km in 28:16) before Kisorio broke away at 13km with a decisive attack. At 15km, he had carved out a six seconds gap over Ndiema, who entered the Stramilano with a 59:57 PB set last year in The Hague and finished third at last month’s Paris Half Marathon.
Kisorio passed the 15-km in 42:24 to Ndiema’s 42:30. The pace slowed in the second half and any hopes of scoring the eighth sub-60 minutes in the history of the Stramilano vanished in the final kilometres.
Kisorio set his previous PB of 60:10 last October in Porto. He also boasts a 5,000m track PB of 12:57:83 (2010) and won the 2008 IAAF world junior silver medal over the distance.
“I was aiming at running under 60 minutes but it was a good race, anyway,” said Kisorio. “The conditions were perfect for running. I was running at sub-60 minutes (pace) but I had some problems in the final kilometres. My goal is to make the Kenyan team in the 10,000m for the World Championships in Daegu,” said Kisorio, who trains with the group guided by Italian coach Claudio Berardelli.
The local interest was focused on the half marathon debut of former European Junior and U-23 cross country champion Andrea Lalli, who ran a good race finishing seventh, first among Europeans in 62:32.
“I expected to run 63 minutes, so it was a good result for me. I had no experience at all over this distance, as I don’t run more than 20km in training. I trained very well in Kenya with a group of Kenyan runners and this gave me a great motivation. My goal is to qualify for the 10,000m for the World Championships in Daegu. I will pursue the qualifying standard for Daegu at the European Challenge in Oslo on June 5,” said Lalli.
European marathon champion Viktor Röthlin from Switzerland finished eleventh in 62:45 in his final test before the London Marathon on April 17.
In the women’s race, 20-year-old Ethiopian Ababel Eyeshaneh Brihane took the honours in 69:54 ahead of Italian Anna Incerti, runner-up in 70:41.
The race developed into a fight between Ababel Eyeshaneh and Anna Incerti who ran side by side in the first 15km (5km in 16:21, 10km in 32:48 and 15km in 49:38). Hungarian Krisztina Papp, who boasts a half marathon PB of 70:53 set at the Udine World Half Marathon Championships in 2007, followed in third position at 15km in 50:45.
RESULTS
MEN
1 Matthew Kisorio (Kenya) 60:03
2 Eric Ndiema (Kenya) 60:20
3 Dereje Deme Hailegiorgis (Ethiopia) 60:25
4 Peter Kurui (Kenya) 60:40
5 Yrasaw Tegene Atalay (Ethiopia) 60:59
WOMEN
1 Brihane Eyeshaneh Ababel (Ethiopia) 69:54
2 Anna Incerti (Italy) 70:41
3 Krisztina Papp (Hungary) 71:47
4 Valeria Straneo (Italy) 73:22
5 Martina Facciani (Italy) 74:29
AllAfrica – All the Time
Excerpt from:
Kenya: Kisorio Rules Milan