Indefatigable Ebenyo wins New Delhi half marathon

He has had one of the most amazing seasons an athlete of his stature could wish for, and there is no stopping 28-year-old Daniel Simiu Ebenyo.

Fourteen days after settling for silver at the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia, Ebenyo was back in action on Sunday, this time clocking 59:27 minutes to secure first place at this year’s New Delhi half marathon.

The world 10,000m silver medalist led a Kenyan 1-2 in dominant fashion as compatriot Charles Matata, running his third career half marathon, came home in 1:00:05 while Ethiopia’s Addisu Gobena timed 1:00:51 to complete the podium places.

“It was amazing to run here, however, I am disappointed with my timing. I was aiming for the event record but fell short. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic experience to run here. Hopefully, I will be able to break the event record next year,” he said.

Ebenyo who started his season with a sixth-place finish at the World Athletics cross country championship in Bathurst earlier in the year, helping Kenya win team gold, has been successful in a host of other races throughout the year.

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He went undefeated in six races across a range of distances in the first half of the year. He won 10km races in Gqeberha and Okpekpe; he triumphed over 10,000m at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi in May; he won the Istanbul Half Marathon in 59:52 in April; and he won his third Kenyan 5000m title in Nairobi.

Despite qualifying for the 5000m in Budapest, he was named in the 10,000m following the withdrawal of Kibiwott Kandie, where he went on to finish behind Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei.

Meanwhile, in the women’s race, Rio Olympics 10,000m champion Almaz Ayana won the women’s elite races in 1:07.59, ahead of Uganda’s Stella Chesang who timed 1:08:28, and Kenya’s Viola Chepngeno who completed the women’s elite podium in 1:09:09.

Meanwhile, Abhishek Pal and Kavita Yadav were the fastest in the Indian men’s and women’s elite categories, clocking 1:04:08 and 1:17:42, respectively.