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Ethiopia completes Soweto Marathon clean sweep
Ethiopia completes Soweto Marathon clean sweep
Ethiopia dominated the return of the Soweto Marathon, with Baba Ifa Debele and Chaltu Bedo Negashu taking the honours in the men™s and women™s race at the FNB Stadium on Sunday.
The Nedbank Running Club stars marked the dominance of the return of the People™s Race for the first time in two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Debele stopped the clock at 2:18:58 to take the R250 000 prize money.
He was followed by his compatriot Gadisa Bekele Gutama in 2:19:27, with Tshepo Ramashamole of Lesotho settling for a third-place finish in 2:20:21. Ntsindiso Mphakathi of Entsika Running Club was the first South African home taking fifth place in 2:21:2.
The long wait for a South African male winner since Michael Mazibuko did it in 2011 continues.
The absence of three-time winner Irvette van Zyl due to sickness did not help as Ethiopian Nagashu ended the three-year drought for the East African country, clocking 2:40:56 in the colours of the Nedbank Running Club.
She was followed home by her compatriot Amelework Fikadu Bosho (2:43:14), with teammate Tinebebe Nebiyu Ali grabbing third place finish in2:44:32.
Nobuhle Tshuma of Entsika Running Club was the first South African home in the ladies' race, taking sixth place in 2:50:24. It was bad at the office for South African runners.
More than 16 000 runners line up the streets of Soweto in 10km, 21.1km, and 42.2km braving the hot conditions.
The race was not broadcast on television, robbing millions of South Africans due to the internal fights between the Soweto Marathon Trust and the Central Gauteng Athletics.
The Soweto Marathon Trust defied Central Gauteng Athletics' orders for the race to be shown on the pay channel SuperSport and wanted the race to be on SABC.
But Central Gauteng Athletics, who report to the mother body Athletics South Africa, signed a four-year contract with SuperSport.
The Soweto Marathon Trust is affiliated with Central Gauteng Athletics.
By Charles Baloyi
