Kenya’s Dixon Chumba Wins Chicago Marathon

11 Oct, 2015

Kenyan Dickson Chumba pulled away from compatriot Sammy Kitwara and comfortably won a slow Chicago Marathon in a sweep for the African nation on Sunday.

Chumba, wearing a bright yellow singlet, clocked 2 hours 9 minutes 25 seconds as twice runner-up Kitwara recorded his fourth consecutive top-four finish, placing 25 seconds behind.

Chumba broke up a tactical race with a surge after about 30km and gradually increased his lead over Kitwara.

“The race was good, but the pace was slow to 30km,” said the 28-year-old, who won the Tokyo marathon in 2014 and finished third there this year.

Kenyan Sammy Ndungu took third in 2:10:06, followed by Ethiopian Girmay Birhanu Gebru and surprising American Luke Puskedra.

Kenya’s world half-marathon record holder Florence Kiplagat claimed the women’s race, breaking away at 40km to win in 2:23:33.

“The course for me was very nice,” a smiling Kiplagat told reporters. “It was a flat course, sometimes it’s windy, but that is part of competition.”

Ethiopians Yebrgual Melese and Birhane Dibaba took the next two spots with Melese 10 seconds adrift of Kiplagat.

Early leader Kayoko Fukushi of Japan finished fourth, just one second behind Dibaba in 2:24:25.

Deena Kastor, aged 42, took seventh in a U.S. masters record 2:27:47.

American Tatyana McFadden won the women’s wheelchair race for a sixth time and Australian Kurt Fearnley took the men’s event with McFadden and top U.S. men’s finisher Josh George, who was third, qualifying for the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

Reuters

Image Universal Sports twitter 

Mentioned In This Post: