In 2010 football was the name of the game on the African continent and history in the making with the first FIFA Football World Cup held in South Africa.

Football has become a “world religion” bringing nations together on the pitch and off the pitch. Who would have thought that alone supermarket giant Sainsbury’s would sell an African instrument, “Vuvuzela”, once used to summon distant villagers to attend community gatherings, over 50.000 times in the UK.

Africa is not only made out of South Africa and so football history continued to be written also in Eritrea, a small African state on the red sea, where the young nation hosted the CECAFA under-20 tournament. The CECAFA theme was Development and Friendship and took place in Eritrea’s capital Asmara from the August 14 to August 28.

Teams from nine African nations, including Eritrea, received a warm welcome by  Mr Tesfay Gebreyesas president of the Eritrean National Football Federation. Eritrea, the hosting country delivered a successful cup with organizers squeezing the best out of resources available, it proved again Eritrea can make it even during difficult times.

President of CECAFA Mr Leodegar Tenga praised the Government, Football Federation and the people of Eritrea for their hospitality. He continued on by saying

“This tournament will not only stimulate the development of football in this region, but it will also renovate social, economic development of our people and foster friendship”.

The tournament was overall packed and tickets for matches sold out, hotels were full with African nation’s contestants and streets were decorated with banners all over the place.

Eritrean fans were on the streets chanting “Eritrea, Eritrea Eritrea” full of excitement and roads packed with cars sounding there horn. Although, Eritrea came second behind cup winner Uganda and 4 players of the national team of Zanzibar had to be disqualified because of overage the cup was a major achievement for the team and Eritrea.

Shabait, Asmara, 28 August 2010 – The 5th CECAFA Cup under 20 tournament that was conducted here in Asmara concluded today with the Ugandan national soccer team as winner.

In the final matches that took place today between the Eritrean and Ugandan national teams, the two teams drew 1-1 in both the regular and additional time. In the subsequent penalty kicks, the Ugandan team beat the Eritrean team 5-3, thus emerging as the champion.

Also in the matches conducted earlier between the Kenyan and Rwandan national teams for ranking, the Kenyan team defeated its counterpart 1-0 and assumed the 3rd position.

In the course of the two-week tournament under the theme: “Development and Friendship”, the national soccer teams of Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Rwanda and Zanzibar, as well as the invited Yemeni team took part.

By Dalmar Gure, Nairobi (HOL) – Six nations from all over Africa came together Sunday to commemorate the 19th Independence of Eritrea by representing their respective countries in Africa’s favourite sporting pastime, Football.

In a sport revered by millions of Africans, it is no surprise that since its introduction to the continent football has embodied strong political elements. Since the waves of independence in Africa began, football and freedom have become synonymous; therefore, it is only fitting that Eritrea, the last African nation to gain independence, celebrate by hosting a football tournament.

One of the organizers of the tournament, Bellay Tekleab, said that he was happy to see such a great turnout and enthusiasm from both the players and spectators. “This is the first time we’re doing this (tournament) and we that this can become an annual event. Next year we hope to invite more teams and have more people come out and watch these kids play”

Players from Cameroon, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan participated in the round by round knockout tournament that was held at the Technical College in Eastleigh, Nairobi.

The first round saw Kenya be defeated by their Somali counterparts 2-1; a headline that has become all too familiar for both Kenyans and Somalis. Ethiopia barely edged past Cameron with a one – nil win. The third game of the first round saw Eritrea win a lop-sided victory over Sudan 3-0. The last scheduled game of the tournament was riddled with confusion as Eritrea Youth, a team that was taking the place of an India/Pakistan squad that failed to show up won by technicality as their opponents the Democratic Republic of Congo was also in absentia.

The Somalia team donning jerseys that read “Eastleigh Stars FC” continued their dominant play with a convincing 3-0 win over Eritrea; a win that would secure them a position in the finals. . Ethiopia and Eritrea Youth faced off for the other coveted position in the finals. Both teams displayed a balanced attack and even better defense. Eritrea Youth would emerge as the victor winning a nail biter 3-2.

The championship game pitted Somalia and Eritrea Youth against one another in a game that would ultimately come down to speed. To the surprise of the mostly Eritrean crowd, Somalia’s attack offense continued to bombard the Eritrean goalkeeper throughout the game. At the end of the first half, Somalia already had a commanding 3-0 lead. The second half saw much better defense by the Eritreans who conceded only a single goal. The final score was 4-0.

The Eritrean ambassador to Kenya, Dessale Berhane, one of the spectators of the tournament said that the day was not about winners or losers; but rather to share their special day with the rest of the countries. View more photos: http://www.hiiraan.com/images/2010/may/Eritrea_Day_Tournament/index.htm

MONACO (AP) — The IAAF has ratified two world records set by Zersenay Tadese. The Eritrean runner broke both the 20K and half marathon records in Lisbon on March 21.

Tadese ran the half marathon in 58 minutes, 23 seconds, breaking Kenyan Samuel Kamau Wanjiru’s mark by 10 seconds. Tadese also completed 20K during the same race in 55:21, which beat the previous mark of 55:48 set by Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie in 2006.

The IAAF also ratified a new world indoor record in the women’s 3,200 relay. A Russian quartet set a time of 8:12.41 in Moscow on Feb. 28.

A Canadian runner born to an Eritrean father and an Ethiopian mother wants to end the Kenyan domination of the Vancouver Sun Run. But realizing that ambitious goal, one of just several who could change the face of Canadian long-distance running, will have to wait for Simon Bairu.

Bairu, 26, from Regina, had a May 1 date in Stanford, Calif., at the Payton Jordan Invitational track meet, where he was attempting to break a nine-year-old Canadian record in the 10,000 metres, one of several Canadian running records that have stood the test of time, much to Bairu’s consternation. His ultimate goal is to evolve into a marathoner, take a run at Jerome Drayton’s hoary Canadian record, which has been on the books since 1975, and become the first Canadian to run under 2:10 in the classic distance race.

While Bairu’s schedule won’t allow him to recover in time for Sunday’s Sun Run, just eight days after his Stanford run farther down the coast, he aches to race in the mass 10K road event, the second largest in North America, probably as early as next year.

“I wish I had an opportunity to run more in Canada,” Bairu admits. “Hopefully, I’ll be up there [Vancouver] in the next couple of years.”

Bairu trains in Portland as part of the Nike Oregon Project, a high-performance camp set up to address the decline of American (and Canadian) achievement in running — middle-distance through marathoning — in an era dominated disproportionately by Olympic champions and world-record holders from Kenya and Ethiopia.

Eric Gillis, of Guelph, Ont., is also part of the leading edge in a revival of Canadian distance running. In January, the 30-year-old from the Speed River Track and Field Club (named for the river that flows through Guelph) ran 2:13:56 in his first attempt at the marathon in a race in Houston. It is believed to be the second-fastest debut marathon time in Canadian history. Athletics Canada set a standard of 2:14 to qualify for the Beijing games. No Canadian was able to make it to the start line.

Gillis trains with Reid Coolsaet, Canada’s top finisher at the 2009 world championships marathon, and he’ll be regarded as the Canadian favourite in the 2010 Sun Run,

which could be a mirror image of the 2010 Victoria Times Colonist 10K on April 25. Kenyans

Kip Kangogo, Willie Kimosop and Kibet Rutto swept the top three placings in that race with Scott Simpson of Victoria finishing fourth.

Despite his third-place result in Victoria, however, Rutto should be the man to beat in the elite division of this year’s Sun Run, which has been won by a runner with a Kenyan passport 13 times in the past 16 years. He ran the Victoria 10K with a slight calf injury, and just days after a 35-hour commute from Africa. Just 23, the runner from Iten, Kenya divides his time between training at altitude back home and his North American base in Waterloo, Ont. Sponsored by The Running Room, Rutto’s aim is to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London in the 10,000, then evolve to the marathon like Bairu and Gillis.

“There are so many Kenyans running fast right now,” Gillis says.

“You don’t always know their names or their histories, but you have to give them respect. Still, you just can’t say, ‘Oh, I’m in a race with a Kenyan, I can’t run with him.’ Even if they have fast track times, that doesn’t mean they’re not beatable on the road.”

Indeed, Gillis held off Kenya’s Josephat Ongeri to win the Harry’s Spring Run-Off 8K race April 3 in Toronto. Matt Loiselle of Toronto, who was third in that race, is also entered in the 2010 Sun Run.

“Having Kenyans in a race is a little bit of motivation,” says the 25-year-old Loiselle. “They dominate the sport, but that’s the reason I’m coming to Vancouver. Good competition helps you to get better.”  (The Vancouver Sun)

Hamburg

More than 16,000 runners were participating at the 25th Hamburg Marathon competition in Germany. Beraki, Beyene Zerea from Eritrea finished third in 02:10:06 behind Kenya’s Wilfred Kigen in 02:09:22 (first) and Norwegian athlete Buta, Urige Arado in 02:09:27 (second) in Hamburg.

In the women’s race, another Kenyan Cherop Sharon won the race in two hours 28 minutes and 38 seconds – well over a minute ahead of second placed Biruktayit Eshetu Degefa of Ethiopia.

In the second Marathon competition today, across the English channel, thousands of spectators cheered on 35,000 runners including fellow Eritrean Zersenay Tadese at the the London Marathon 2010.

The event is said to be the largest single mass fundraising event in the world. Tadese finished the London Marathon seventh place in 02:12:03.

Cheered on by thousands of spectators on a cloudy Sunday 35,000 runners including the world’s top athletes started the men’s elite race in the world’s largest fundraising marathon event, the London Marathon 2010.

From the beginning of the race the men’s field kept a high speed with a group of  twelve front runners from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Kenya leading the masses. Abel Kirui from Kenya and Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede lead the men’s race for a long time until Kebede increased his pace to leave Kirui behind.

Kebede who finished last year’s London Marathon second place is the third Ethiopian to win the London Marathon at 02:05:18. Second place goes to Emmanuel Kipchirchir Mutai from Kenya with a minute away of Kebede and third place goes Jaouaed Gharib of Morocco.

Having finished first at this year’ s Lisbon Half Marathon, Zersenay Tadese was not able to repeat his outstanding performance from Lisbon.

Gulfstream

London Marathon organizers fear that flight restrictions over Europe could hinder African star athletes to participate in this year’s Virgin London Marathon event scheduled to start in five days.

Race organisers have arranged a private plane to pick up athletes from Africa and fly them to London via Djibouti and Spain.

The move followed air travel restrictions over much of Europe due to volcanic ash after last week’s eruption in Iceland, increasing the risk that elite overseas runners would not be able to compete in Sunday’s race.

The specially arranged flight will first fly to Nairobi to pick up Kenyan athletes and then make a stopover in Djibouti to collect athletes from Eritrea and Ethiopia, according to an official from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

A Gulfstream jet from Egypt is supposed to fly today the routing Egypt-Kenya-Djibouti-Spain. Another jet is awaiting the athletes in Spain to bring them to London.

Boston Marathon

More than 26,000 runners were lining up for the Boston Marathon 2010. Pressure was high on New York City Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi and fellow American Ryan Hall as they were expected to give the United States its first men’s win since 1983.

After leading most of the first 10 miles Ryan Hall fell back letting Deriba Merga and Chala Dechase of Ethiopia move forward only to come back and regain the lead 15 minutes later.

Approaching route 128 and the Wellesley-Newton line the leading group of athletes was down to seven consisting of Meb Keflezighi, Robert Cheruiyot, Tekeste Kebede, Deriba Merga, Moses Kigen, Abderrahim Goumri and Gilbert Yegon at the 15-miles mark.

Shortly after the 20-miles mark Kenyan athlete Robert Cheruiyot and Deriba Merga and Tekeste Kebede from Ethiopia opened the lead increasing the gap between them and the remaining group.

Finally, Robert Cheruiyot finished first with a new course record of 2:05:51 followed by Ethiopian Tekeste Kebede finishing second 2:07:23 and Deriba Merga finishing third in 2:08:39. Ryan Hall finished fourth in 02:08:41 the fastest time ever by an American and Mebrahtom Keflezighi fifth in 02:09:26. Robert Cheruiyot will take home the Boston Marathon winning prize of up to $150,000.

A week ago, while Ryan Hall was running around sunny Walden Pond, Meb Keflezighi was back home in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., navigating through a foot of snow.

Last November, when Keflezighi was basking on the podium after winning the New York City Marathon, Hall was frustrated in fourth place.

In 2007, after Hall was high-fiving fans en route to winning the Olympic trials in New York’s Central Park, Keflezighi was sitting on the curb sobbing, worried his career might be over after finishing eighth.

Keflezighi and Hall, the United States’ premier marathon runners, belong to the same team and live 1,000 feet from each other in California. But they have rarely been in step the last three years. Too friendly to be marquee rivals, they are more like good neighbors who pass each other on the trails.

Each has his own coach, style, workout regimen and distinct marathon results. Keflezighi, a gritty, methodical runner, has the medals and finally got his major title; Hall, a gutsy frontrunner, has significantly faster times, but still lacks a big-city victory.

On Monday, they will line up in Hopkinton, Mass., for the 114th Boston Marathon, each hoping to become the first American man to win the race since 1983.

“I respect Ryan, we’re good friends and I wish him nothing but the best,” Keflezighi, 34, said this week from California. “I hope one of us does come first.”

Then, laughing, he said, “Of course, I hope it can be me.”

Hall, 27, was in the hunt last year in Boston before battling headwinds and finishing third.

“There’s this brewing fire in me,” Hall said this week from Boston. “I’ve tasted it. I know I can run even faster.”

Hall is at his best when he can lock into a rhythm early and, as he put it, “just fly.” At London in 2008, Hall ran the second-fastest time ever by an American — 2 hours 6 minutes 17 seconds — in finishing fifth. He has announced that he wants to break the American record (2:05:38, by Khalid Khannouchi) on the flat Chicago course this fall.

But Hall also showed he could steamroll the hills of Central Park. Just as he ran that course before the Olympic trials, Hall came to Boston three weeks early, leaving the 8,000-foot altitude in Mammoth Lakes to gain a different advantage.

Hall wanted to become accustomed to the rolling hills, markers, potholes and winds. Last year, he ran as if burst from a cannon, going 4:28 in the first downhill mile, following a scientific study. He never sustained a rhythm or kept the study. “I threw it out after the race,” he said.

This time, he opted for his own research, with a little help from the four-time Boston winner Bill Rodgers. The two have been exchanging e-mail messages and met one day two weeks ago for a brief run. “When you get familiar with the course, you are more in your element, you can flow out of that,” Hall said.

Keflezighi, meanwhile, feeds off the flow of competition. He proved he was a championship racer by winning the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, the first American man to medal since Frank Shorter in 1976. In New York, Keflezighi overtook the leader, Robert Cheruiyot, in the final miles to win his first marathon after seven years of near-misses and severe injuries. Perseverance — Keflezighi came to the United States at age 12 after his family escaped war in Eritrea — is his mantra.

Hall’s and Keflezighi’s opposing styles rekindle the age-old running debate over medals and records — and which determines success.

Rodgers has been dazzled by Hall’s talent since his eye-popping marathon debut in London (2:08:24) in 2007. “He’s one of the most, if not the most successful runners since Frank Shorter, who won and won and won,” Rodgers said, but quickly added, “I would say, though, at this point, Meb has achieved a higher level, and that was really cemented in New York.”

Hall, too, was impressed by Keflezighi’s performance in New York.

“It was just cool to see him win after many people had written him off,” he said. “Seeing his age — not that he’s at the end — but it’s good to see a guy out there hit it and pick up victories.”

Keflezighi turns 35 on May 5. He is the father of three girls, the youngest just turning 3 months. Keflezighi opted to stay in Mammoth Lakes until the last possible moment — for his family, and also to make up for lost time.

In January, he injured his left knee after falling on ice, which curtailed his training in February and contributed to his dropping out of the New York City Half Marathon in March. He is still bothered by slight tendonitis, but said he was encouraged by his 100-mile-plus training weeks the last month.

“Obviously he wouldn’t be running Boston if we didn’t think he could come up with a strong competitive race,” his longtime coach, Bob Larsen, said.

Hall, too, had an injury last winter. He finished second at Phoenix’s half marathon in January, when he was bothered by adhesions in his legs and received treatment in February.

Before their injuries, the two did a few tempo and long runs together, but with Hall wanting to push the pace and Keflezighi more methodical, “that doesn’t always lend itself to training together,” said Terrence Mahon, Hall’s coach, who oversees the dozen elite athletes in Mammoth Lakes.

Keflezighi mentored Hall when he began running marathons, and the two now compare notes. Mahon hopes the team’s bonds, albeit loose, will help them against the Ethiopians, led by the defending champion, Deriba Merga, 29, and the Kenyans, featuring the newcomer Gilbert Yegon, 21, who ran a 2:06:18 in Amsterdam last fall.

No American man has won New York and Boston back-to-back since Alberto Salazar in 1982, when he outdueled Minnesota’s Dick Beardsley in the broiling April heat.

“If an American wins Boston, whether it’s Meb or Ryan, that would just be a huge, huge story,” Rodgers said. “And if Meb gets it after winning New York, that would be quite something.” Source: (The New York Times)

Berlin 10000 m

IAAF – The IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz will mark the end of an era, because for the first time since 2001 we will see neither Kenenisa Bekele nor Zersenay Tadese on the medal podium.

Those two titans of cross country running dominated this race throughout the noughties but now Bekele is injured while Tadese – as we saw so spectacularly at the Lisbon Half Marathon – is prioritising road racing. Without this pair, there’s never been a better time for a Kenyan victory in the big race.

Ten championships have now passed since an individual Kenyan man won the long race at the World Cross Country Championships, the blue riband event of distance running. That man was Paul Tergat in Belfast 1999. Now a new Paul might be the one to resume that sequence.

Paul Tanui, just 19, will come to Bydgoszcz having won the next toughest race in the world – the Kenyan Championships – by the yawning margin of 30.2 seconds. The progress of Paul Kipngetich Tanui, to give his full name, has been frightening. He was fourth in the junior race in Amman before transferring to Fukuoka where he has thrived in the Japanese corporate system with fast times on the track and Ekiden circuit.

Of course, victory in the trials is one thing, preserving that form to the championships is another and Tanui’s vastly experienced compatriots will know all about that process.

Leonard Komen has finished 2nd-4th-2nd-4th at the past four world championships, as a junior then a senior. Joseph Ebuya was fourth in 2008 and won at Edinburgh in January where Kenenisa Bekele was fourth. Hosea Macharinyang was fifth in 2007. Richard Matelong has Olympic and world steeplechase medals from each of the past three years.

Yet this quartet was all beaten in their trials by Tanui and another 19 year-old, Lucas Rotich. Like Tanui, we know he’s good, but we won’t know just how good until the race unfolds in Bydgoszcz.

Gebremariam leads Ethiopia’s charge

The world cross does not seem to be as much of a priority these days for Ethiopia’s men, yet they still ended up with the champion in 2009 through Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam. He is back, but after four big wins before Christmas he lost both his IAAF Permit races in 2010. One of those was to compatriot Hunegnaw Mesfin who also triumphed at the Five Mills on his 21st birthday and may be ready for a breakthrough in Poland after a disappointing 2009.

Last year’s junior winner Ayele Abshero is on this year’s senior team, but there is no Bekele, Sihine, Cherkos, Fikadu or Jeylan. Ethiopia however may have its own Paul Tanui in Azmeraw Bekele. He was a clear-cut winner of the Ethiopian trial race and won the Marrakech half marathon, but at the time of writing we don’t even know how old he is. Clearly he has minimal international experience and that will be a disadvantage.

If any Eritrean is going to take over Tadese’s mantle on the country, it will be his training partner, the tall Samuel Tsegay. He impressed with his fifth place at the World Half Marathon Championships and looks set to climb much higher than his 16th place finish in Amman. The world will be looking at athletes like him who can crack the domination of “KenEth”, and another in that category will be Uganda’s Moses Kipsirio who was so near to winning in 2009. One more returning from that leading pack in Amman is Chakir Boujattaoui (MAR), who has quietly progressed since his eighth place last year.

One day, a man born outside of Africa will cause a sensation and win the World Cross Country Championships again. Bydgoszcz 2010 may be a bit soon for that, so there will be some interest not only in the first finisher from outside of Africa, but also the first European and the first without African heritage.

One in eight of the entrants for this year’s senior race are migrants or transferees from Africa. In this category are the leading Europeans Alemayehu Bezabeh (ESP) and Mohamed Farah (GBR). Farah worked his way through to 11th in the tough conditions at Mombasa 2007 and is targeting the championships for the first time since then.

One European entered who has already defeated the best of Kenya and Ethiopia this year is another Spaniard, Sergio Sánchez. He was world indoor silver medallist at 3000m in Doha, but surely it’s too much to ask for the same sort of result over four times that distance.

The leading European in 2009 was Spain’s Carles Castillejo in 28th place. He is entered again so it looks as if Spain will be the team to beat for the likes of Australia, Britain, France, Portugal, the United States, Japan and Poland. The Poles have one of the most interesting entries, Jaroslaw Cichocki (38). He last competed in the World Cross Country Championships as a junior in 1990. At a time when the possible winner of this year’s race wasn’t even born.

Junior race – Uganda’s Golden Opportunity

There is a possibility that for the first time since 1991, the gold could go somewhere other than Ethiopia or Kenya. The two men who finished ahead of Uganda’s Moses Kibet in Amman are now seniors. Kibet performed impressively against seniors in Seville and Elgóibar then retained his national junior title. Can he become only the fourth Ugandan to win a world gold?

If not, the title could go to a 16-year-old for the first time in a decade. Apart from Kibet, Japheth Korir is the highest-placed returnee from Amman, having finished fifth in 2009. He was fourth in this year’s Kenyan trial which was won by the experienced Charles Kibet, a junior team gold medallist at the last two World Championships. Kenya has now won the last 10 team titles and 20 of the last 21, losing only to Ethiopia in Marrakech 1998.

In Bydgoszcz the Ethiopian team will be spearheaded by Biftu Gashaw and Woldsenbet Debebe who were seventh and eighth in Amman but just sixth and seventh in their own country’s trial race.

Perhaps Eritrea can again upset the Kenyan/Ethiopian duopoly as they did with their team silvers in 2007. They bring back three top 20 finishers from last year including 16 year-old Goitom Kifle.

The junior race can hold a special level of excitement because individual reputations do not count for so much. There’s no telling how good an athlete might be at this stage of their development, though obviously it helps to come from Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea or Uganda.

There will be a race within a race to see who can be the first finisher from outside this bloc. In 2009 that honour went to the USA’s German Fernandez who was a brilliant 11th. That might be a bit too much to expect of this winter’s US number one Trevor Dunbar who hails from Kodiak in Alaska, so at least he will be unworried by the much colder conditions Bydgoszcz will provide in comparison with 2009. Another used to the cold will be Norway’s Sondre Nordstad Moen, a former cross country ski champion who surely will improve on last year’s top European placing of 50th.

Sadly the number of European entrants in this race is falling. Twenty years ago in?Aix-les-Bains, 73 of the 126 finishers represented countries from Europe. In 2010 the provisional total for Europe is half of that including just five scoring teams compared with 12 in 1990. One of those 12 became the last European junior men’s team to stand on the podium. They were the Italians who were led by 18 year-old Stefano Baldini.

Much better placed to challenge for team medals this time round are Japan. Their great strength in depth may pay dividends as that country fields three sub-29 minute 10,000m runners. Traditionally it has been the Japanese junior women who have grabbed team bronzes but actually their junior men were the first to achieve this feat … in 1987 when the World Championships last came to Poland.

Zersenay Tadese

Lisbon, Portugal – Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea smashed the World record in the Half Marathon today, clocking 58:23* at the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon.

Tadese, the winner of four successive World Road Running and World Half Marathon titles, eclipsed the mark of 58:33 set by Kenyan Samuel Wanjiru in 2007.

Following the uncooperative weather the day before this IAAF Gold Label Road Race, nobody expects great things from the race today, but the Gods protecting this event came through. After a little bit of fog appeared on Lisbon’s famous 25 Abril Bridge, the sun was smiling through the clouds throughout the race.

So, that was the perfect signal everybody wanted as the race commenced. With the start at sea level (without crossing the bridge) the elite field ran against the clock as the organisers predicted.

By the 10th kilometre (27:53), the race was practically defined. By then, Tadese was running alone against the clock – the rabbits lasted for only nine kilometers – and produced the race of life. So far, that is!

20Km World record first to fall

Inside of World record pace, even when he reached 15Km in 41:33 (four seconds behind Felix Limo’s 41:29 World record set in 2001), Tadese forced the pace to another level. The Half Marathon World record was well within reach when he crossed the 20Km marker in 55:21*, 27 seconds faster then Haile Gebrselassie’s World record of 55:48 set in 2006.

The reigning World silver medallist in the 10,000m forged onward to clock 58:23, smashing by 10 seconds Wanjiru’s mark set at The Hague in 2007.

“I felt very good, and looking for a performance just like that,” said Tadese, who had a previous personal best of 58:59 over the distance set at the 2007 World Half Marathon Championships in Udine, Italy.

“I’m in a good shape. Kilometre after kilometre I achieved more courage and determination and always believed that I can get the world record.”

Afterwards, Tadese opened the window to the near future. “I hope to be in the same shape and to use the same skills to try for the world record in the London Marathon.” Impressed the event’s organisation, Tadese promised to return to what he described as “ a marvelous city and course!”

By the 10th kilometre is was clear that there were two races today, Tadese’s run against the clock, and the one for the runner-up spot. By the 15th kilometre Kenyan Sammy Kitwara, the winner of 2009 Rotterdam Half Marathon and the 2008 Paris Half Marathon, was 24 seconds behind Tadese, and by the finish the margin didn’t change. He was second in 59:47, a personal best, ahead of his compatriot Emmanuel Mutai, the 2009 World silver medalist in the Marathon, who clocked 1:00:03, also a personal best.

Duncan Kibet (1:00:21) was fourth and Gilbert Masai (1:00:28) fifth, both with personal bests.

Two-time World Marathon champion Jaouad Gharib of Morocco was still in contention for a podium spot at 15Km, but faded in the waning stages to finish a distant sixth in 1:00:33.

Amid the African domination, former European 10,000m champion “Chema” Martinez of Spain was the first European across the line, finishing 11th in 1:02:52, 46 seconds ahead of the first Portuguese, Hermano Ferreira, who was 13th with 1:03:38.

Arusei dominates women’s race.

With the spotlight on the men contest, the women race didn’t get quite the same attention, with the results considerably more modest.

As in the men’s race, Peninah Arusei was in the lead from the early stages, and passed 15Km in 48:14, more than 1:30 ahead of her closest pursuer. The winner of the 2010 Koyang Half Marathon and 2009 Berlin Half Marathon, didn’t falter en route to her 1:08:38 victory, eight seconds slower than American Kara Goucher’s course record set last year. But she was well clear of the runner-up Askale Tafa of Ethiopia who clocked 1:10:46.

Finishing off the podium, at age 40, was local heroine Fernanda Ribeiro. The former Olympic, World and European 10,000m champion clocked 1:12:17.

“It is fantastic being in the podium of a race of this dimension,” said Ribeiro, who is still very much revered in Portugal. “I’m very happy to be here, and achieving this podium for the third time in my career.” In previous appearances, Ribeiro finished second in 1999, third in 2000, and fourth in 2006.

IAAF President Diack pleased with race organisation

Among the guests this year was IAAF President Lamine Diack, who was invited to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of the race. Diack was especially pleased to be on hand to witness Tadese’s World record on his first visit to this race.

Among the runners was Portuguese Prime Minister José Socrates.

António Manuel Fernandes for the IAAF

Leading Results -

Men -

1. Zersenay Tadese ERI 58.23 WR*

2. Sammy Kitwara KEN 59.47 PB

3. Emmanuel Mutai KEN 1.00.03 PB

4. Duncan Kibet KEN 1.00.21 PB

5. Gilbert Masai KEN 1.00.28 PB

6. Jaouad Gharib MAR 1.00.33

7. Gedion Ngatuny KEN 1.01.07

8. Mathew Kisorio KEN 1.01.10

9. Samuel Kosgei KEN 1.01.57

10. Ernest Kebenei KEN 1.02.01

11. “Chema” Martinez ESP 1.02.52

12. Silas Sang KEN 1.02.57

13. Hermano Ferreira POR 1.03.38

14. Alberto Chaíça POR 1.03.52

15. Luís Feiteira POR 1.04.38

Women -

1. Peninah Jerop Arusei KEN 1.08.38

2. Askale Tafa ETH 1.10.46

3. Fernanda Ribeiro POR 1.12.17

4. Maria Jose Pueyo ESP 1.13.21 PB

5. Olga Glok RUS 1.14.00

6. Ksenia Agafonova RUS 1.14.24

7. Elizaveta Grechishnikova RUS 1.14.30

8. Mónica Rosa POR 1.14.35

9. Constantina Dita 1.14.39

10. Cruz Nonata da Silva BRA 1.14.59 PB

* pending the usual ratification procedures

Source: (IAAF)