Marathon

Kenyan Edwin Kiptoo crosses the finish line of the Marathon Đà Nẵng Midnight's men's 42km event on July 14 in Đà Nẵng. Photos of VNexpress Marathons

ĐÀ NẴNG — It was African domination, at the Marathon Đà Nẵng Midnight on July 14 when runners of this continent secured almost of highest positions of the full marathon categories.

Kenyan Edwin Kiptoo took his third straight victory in Việt Nam, finishing first in the men's 42km in a time of 2.37.04min.

Earlier, he won in the Huế in April and Quy Nhơn last month, which were also events of the VNexpress Marathon series.

His country fellow Kimutai Kipchumba and Tesfaye Keress from Ethiopia came second and third, respectively.

The trio set up their own race from the beginning with Vietnamese elite runners such as Đan Quyết, Tiến Luyện and Hoàng Hơn only able to follow them for the first 20km before being left far behind.

After the 30km mark, Kipchumba was dropped. Kiptoo and Keress set up a one-two race and rotated to take lead with a gap that was never larger than three minutes.

In the last few hundred metres, Keress tried to sprint up and headed to the finish but his attempt was not successful. Kiptoo who had a bigger leg stride length passed him in the last metres and took the top podium.

Keress was five seconds slower than the champion.

Ethiopian Marta Tinsae Birehan runs solo on the way to win the women's 42km.

On the women's side, Ethiopian Marta Tinsae Birehan was back in action at an VnExpress Marathon event after failng at HCM City's marathon last year.

Birehan was only 700 metres from the finish line and in the lead, when she had to withdraw because of health problem.

This year, nothing could stop her from winning the title as she left all other runners behind to run solo to the finish, winning in 2:54.55.

Phạm Thị Hồng Lệ and Nông Thị Chang came second and third, respectively.

A foreign runner also made his mark in the half marathon events.

Nano Guta Kebede of Ethiopia topped the men's class, clocking in at 1:11.45. He was followed by Vietnamese Lê Văn Hương and Trịnh Minh Tâm.

Lê Thị Hà of Việt Nam won the women's 21km gold in 1:30.10, followed by Trần Thị Duyên and Vương Thị Hiền.

Runners also took part in the men's and women's 10km and 5km and kid fun runs.

About 8,000 local and international runners took part in the Đà Nẵng's first midnight marathon, running around the beach city's most beautiful streets and iconic landmarks.

The city's leaders believe that the sporting event played a role in lifting Đà Nẵng's reputation in the fields of tourism and business and it should become an annual event. VNS