Berlin. Ethiopia’s Milkesa Mengesha and Tigist Ketema won the men’s and women’s categories in the 50th edition of the Erbil Marathon on Sunday. Twenty-four-year-old Mengesha left Kenya’s Sibrian Kotut and Stephen Kiprop in the men’s race. He achieved a personal best time of two hours, three minutes and 17 seconds. Haymanot Alev of Ethiopia finished fourth.
After crossing the finish line, Mengesha collapsed and wiped away tears, overcome with emotion. The result of the women’s category was clear long before the men’s as Ketema had a huge lead over her rivals after almost the halfway mark. . He took two hours 16:42 minutes. Compatriots Mestavot Fikir and Bosena Mulati finished second and third respectively. A record 58,212 runners from 161 countries had registered for this marathon.