Mumbai, Jan 19: New champions emerged in the 20th edition of the Mumbai Marathon, a World Athletics Gold Label Road Race, as Eritrean Berhane Tesfay and Kenyan Joyce Chepkemoi Tele won the men's and women's categories, respectively. The top three winners each took home prize money of USD 50,000, USD 25,000 and USD 15,000 respectively.
The winners were happy to celebrate their victories here for two reasons -- Tesfay for his first-ever marathon triumph and Tele for her second successive win in three months in a marathon.
Six men, including defending champion Lemi Berhanu, ran together in a bunch in most parts of the race. At the same time, pacer Timoty Kibet from Kenya pulled them to 27 km before withdrawing at that stage. After the 30K, Kenyan Philemon Rono and Lemi exchanged the lead briefly among themselves. After 35K, the runners realised that the event record was slipping away. Hence, only the top-place finish mattered in their mind.
Ethiopian Tesfaye Demeke, who finished ninth in the 2020 edition here, snatched the lead when there was only 3 km left to finish. The other runners started chasing him. Both Rono and Lemi started showing fatigue as two Eritreans, Berhane and Merhawi Kesete, increased their tempo and ran ahead of Demeke in the waning stages of the race.
Berhane Tesfay crossed the finish line first in 2:11:44, with teammate Kesete taking the runner-up position six seconds later. Demeke completes the podium in 2:11:56.
Lemi, who logged back-to-back wins here in 2023-2024, finished sixth in a nondescript 2:14:54 and could not accomplish a hat trick of victories similar to Kenyan John Kelai, who won in 2007-2008 and landed third place in 2009.
Tesfay said in a post-race interview, "I'm happy to have won today's race. The race's first half went smoothly, and I stayed focused on keeping a steady pace. After 25K, my strategy shifted to securing the win rather than chasing a specific time. This victory means a lot to me, and it's a testament to the hard work and training that has gone into preparing for this moment".
Joyce Chepkemoi Tele (29) registered her second straight marathon victory in three months. Having won her maiden race in the Ljubljana City Marathon in Slovenia last October in 2:20:17, the Kenyan runner was expected to return a better timing than the event record of 2:24:15 stands in the name of Anchialem Haymanot since 2023.
With defending champion Aberash Minsewo from Ethiopia and the pre-race favourite Shitaye Eshete (Bahrain) also in the race for the top prize, the women runners were expected to take a course record bonus this time.
However, Tele was left to challenge herself as Eshete and others left the fray at 27K and put the Kenyan to run a solo race. With a pacer taking her through the second part of the race, Tele completes the race in 2:24:56, about 41 seconds slower than the record.
Eshete was on the silver spot at 2:25:29, while Ethiopia's Medina Deme Armino, last year's Hong Kong marathon champion, claimed the bronze (2:27:58).
Tele became the third Kenyan woman runner to win in Mumbai after Valentine Kipketer (2013) and Bornus Kitur (2017).
"I came here only to win the race and was not thinking about any record", Tele told in the post-event press conference.
Eshete said she was happy about her performance today and would like to come again for better results.
Anish Thapa won his first Tata Mumbai Marathon Indian men's title in the landmark 20th edition while Thakor Nirmaben retained her Indian Elite women's crown.
Services' Thapa won in a time of 2:17.23 and pipped Asian marathon champion and Army mate Man Singh by 14 seconds in a terrific finish. The feat also saw, Anish finishing 7th in the overall Elite Runners' list, closely followed by Man Singh in 8th position.
Olympian and former champion Gopi T, also of the Army, was third, more than two minutes behind the winner, Maharashtra's Kalidas Hirave was fourth and last year's winner Srinu Bugatha of the Army finished fifth in 2:20.43.
This is Thapa's first podium finish in the event, his previous best here being 14th overall in 2:22.00 in the 2023 edition.
"My strategy was to keep my core strong and maintain a steady start, despite the humid conditions," Thapa said. "The real push came after the 30-35 km mark, and sticking to my plan made all the difference. I'm incredibly happy with how it all came together," he added.
In the women's marathon, Nirmaben won for a second successive year, in a time of 2:50.06, beating second-placed Sonika Parmar by 49 seconds.
"Though my performance this year wasn't as strong as last year, which remains my personal best, the experience was just as rewarding," Nirmaben said.
"I started at my regular pace and stayed with the group for the first 12 km before we began to split. After 21 km, I gradually started overtaking, and by the 36 km mark, I had secured the lead. Even when I faced some challenges with my shoes around 38 km, my determination and faith in God kept me going," she added.
The top three finishers in the Indian Elite men's and women's categories received prize money of Rs 5 lakh, Rs 4 lakh and Rs 3 lakh, respectively from the total prize fund of USD 3,90,238.
Sawan Barwal and Stanzin Dolkar won the half marathon in the men's and women's categories respectively, with the former setting a meet record of 1:04.37.
"Although my start was a bit slow, I pushed myself after the 12 km mark and I'm thrilled with the achievement. My focus now is the upcoming Nationals in a couple of weeks," Barwal said.
