Stephen Kiprop Sprints to Event Record, Senbere Teferi Wins Debut at RAK Half Marathon

By Adam Kopet

The heat of the competition and not the heat from the sun provided an entertaining close to the 2019 RAK Half Marathon Friday morning in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.

RESULTS

The men's race saw a superb kick by Stephen Kiprop to win in 58:42, equaling the event record. In the women's race, Senbere Teferi outsprinted two of her compatriots in her half marathon debut to win in 1:05:45.

World records were definitely on the minds of race organizers when the new RAK Half Marathon course was developed. The new course features a total of one meter of elevation change over the entire course with a common start and finish line.

However, neither men nor women started off at a pace that would indicate the athletes were focused on running world record times. The women opened their first 5 kilometers in 15:32, outside the original planned pace.

Likewise, the men opened the first 5 kilometers in 14:13, well off the planned pace that would have seen them reach 10 kilometers in 27:50.

How the leading men and women reacted to the slow early paces made for drastically different outcomes. The men seemed to take offense at the early pace, as the lead pack accelerated with a 13:57 second 5K, reaching 10 kilometers in 28:10.

From there, race favorite Abadi Hadis of Ethiopia took charge and splintered what was left of the lead pack. At first, only four men could stay with Hadis, including Kiprop and Julien Wanders of Switzerland.

Hadis reached 15 kilometers in 41:48, having used a 13:38 5K to shake everyone but Kiprop. The Kenyan Kiprop shadowed Hadis wherever he went, much to the annoyance of the Ethiopian. Hadis zigzagged across the road several times, hoping to shake Kiprop out of his slipstream, but to no avail.

As Hadis and Kiprop hit the final kilometer, it was Hadis who looked like he would pull away for the win. A small gap started to open between him and Kiprop.

However, in the final straight, Kiprop found another gear. He sprinted past Hadis to break the tape in 58:42, which equaled the event record and was a 39-second personal best. Hadis, seeing he had been beaten, finished two seconds back, equaling his personal best of 58:44.

Ethiopian Fikadu Haftu used a strong closing kilometer to finish third in 59:08. Wanders finished fourth in a European record 59:13, besting Mo Farah's mark of 59:32 from 2015.

In all, 11 men broke 60 minutes for the half marathon in Ras Al Khaimah, the largest number ever in a single race, according to Tim Hutchings on the race broadcast.

As the men quickened their pace after the slow start, the women maintained their early pace, reaching 10 kilometers in 31:02. At that point, the lead pack was down to only five women, including Teferi, Degitu Azimeraw, Netsanet Gudeta, Zeineba Yimer, all of Ethiopia, and Valary Jemeli Aiyabei of Kenya.

Gudeta, the reigning world champion in the half marathon, took on much of the leading, beside one of the male pace makers. The quintet passed 15 kilometers in 46:43, marking a slowing of pace that would continue until the final kilometer.

The closing kilometers saw Azimeraw and Aiyabei fall off the pace as Teferi, Gudeta and Yimer prepared for the sprint finish in the final 400 meters. And it was Teferi, with her track speed, who found the ability to pull ahead to break the tape first in 1:05:45, with Gudeta and Yimer close on her heels. Gudeta finished with an equal time to Teferi and Yimer was only one second back.

Gudeta holds the women's only half marathon world record at 1:06:11. She bettered that mark for a new personal best Friday, but it will not count as a record, because of the male pace makers.