Over 6,400 take part in Helsinki City Marathon
Top placings dominated by Kenyans
Over 6,400 runners had signed up for the traditional Helsinki City Marathon, raced through the city and into Espoo on Saturday. Women accounted for more than 1,600 of those lining up to start from the statue of the Finnish long-distance great, Paavo Nurmi, close to the Olympic Stadium.
The men’s event was once again dominated by Kenyan runners. This time the winner was last year’s number three, Peter Biwott with a moderate winning time of 2:20:31.
Biwott, 28, shook off his nearest rival, another Kenyan, Johnstone Chebi, after around 34 kilometres.
At the finishing line, ten seconds separated the two. Russian Vanor Kašajev, who came in third, trailed the Kenyans by about four and a half minutes.
"I am happy, though the wind gave me some grief", Biwott commented after the race, which earned him EUR 3,500.
In last year’s fashion, the fastest Finn was Anssi Raittila, who clocked a time of 2:33:27 to come home in fifth. Raittila, like most of the competitors, complained about the strong head wind.
"For the better part of the race I was running alone, which made the wind feel even harder. All things considered, I am satisfied with the time. My personal best is 2:28."
Victory in the women's race also went to Kenya. Flora Kandie took the honours with a winning time of 2:51:05 and beat the Ethiopian Mihret Anomo, who came home second, by two minutes. Third place went to Irina Pankovskaya of Russia.
After the race, Kandie complained of a sore Achilles tendon.
“This race was exceptionally difficult. Still, I am happy about the win and the fact that I completed my first-ever full marathon”, Kandie commented. Not a bad way to start, really.
The best Finnish entry was Minna Kainlauri from Lappeenranta, who finished 5th in a time of just over three hours.
Bright sunshine brought out large crowds to salute the runners as they went through the downtown area.
Previously in HS International Edition:
Helsinki City Marathon likely to disrupt traffic on Saturday (17.8.2007)
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 20.8.2007 - TODAY |
Over 6,400 take part in Helsinki City Marathon
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