Tata Steel Marathon: Daniel Ebenyo, Sutume Kebede win titles; Gulveer sets new course record

Ethiopia’s champion marathoner Sutume Kebede gave an impressive performance to retain the women’s crown in the ninth edition of the Tata Steel World 25K road race here on Sunday. Ugandan Stephen Kissa outran the defending champion, Daniel Ebenyo of Kenya, to lift the title in the men’s category.

The Indian elite runners also performed impressively, with Gulveer Singh setting a new course record in the men’s section and Sanjivani Jadhav claiming the title in the women’s category, in the World Athletics Gold Label event.

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The early morning chill offered the right setting for the runners as more than 20,500 people participated in various categories, raising the popularity of the race. Among the international runners, Kebede recovered from a stomach ailment just in time to defend her title with a timing of 1:19:17s. Although she could not better her own course record of 1:18:47s that she set here last year, Kebede was happy retaining the crown, which came after the outstanding performances in the Houston Half Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon where she finished on top earlier in the year.

Kissa made his 25K race debut in style as he maintained a steady pace with the defending champion Ebenyo, for most of the race before breaking away in the lead at the 20K mark. He kept it till the finish and touched the tape four seconds ahead of the pre-race favourite.

Gulveer lighted up the day for the Indians as he sprinted away from his challengers in the final stage to register the best timing of the course by clocking 1:14:10. His challenger Sawan clocked a close 1:14:11 to cross the finish line fractionally behind. Sanjivani, returning to the race after a gap of a year, improved her best by over five minutes to win in 1:29:08s.