MEIA MARATONA DE LISBOA, PORTUGAL – 16 MARCH 2014 – Bedan Karoki MUCHIRI and Worknesh DEGEFA

Track specialist Bedan Karoki made a great debut over the half marathon distance to win in an under-the hour performance writes Antonio Manuel Fernandes. Karoki was in some discomfort in the early stages and lagged behind the leading group, but he got to the front at 10km, joining his countrymen Silas Kipruto and Ezekiel Chebii, and Eritrea's two-time world cross-country medallist Teklemariam Medhin.

Mehdin briefly took the lead but the Kenyan trio overtook him in the final quarter of the race before engaging in their own private battle for the podium places. Chebii lost contact with his comptariots in the 14th kilometre and although Kipruto stayed with Karoki until just after 18km, Karoki proved too strong for him over the final 3km.

"This wasn't the debut race I dreamed about," said Karoki, who will switch his attention back to the track this summer and then contest another half marathon late in the year. "I had problems. The course is great, totally flat, I'm sure it is the place to do it [break the world record — the last two of which were set on this course by Erritrea's Zersenay Tadese]. I expected more [of myself]." But Karoki is now a force to be reckoned with on the roads after also making his debut over 10km in San Juan three weeks earlier, winning the World's Best 10km in 28:35.

On an unseasonably hot day in the Portuguese capital, with temperatures rising to 22°C, many struggled to cope with the conditions. Despite some small changes to the course designed to make it flatter and faster, the winning men's time has only once been slower in the past decade.

In the women's race Ethiopia's Werknesh Degefa held off Kenya's Jemima Jelagat to win by two seconds in 1:08:46, 18 seconds short of the course record set by her compatriot Aberu Kebede in 2011. Jelagat and Flomena Chepchirchir forced the pace from 10-15km, with Degefa and Kenya's Eunice Kirwa just behind them, but the Ethiopian kicked hard at 20km and only Jelagat could stay with the change of gear, before losing out to her at the finish.

Source: AIMSworldrunning.org

MEN:
1  Bedan Karoki MUCHIRI KEN    59:58
2  Silas KIPRUTO                  KEN  1:00:17
3  Ezekiel CHEBII                 KEN  1:00:50
4  Teklemariam MEDHINE     ERI  1:01:47
5  Richard SIGEI                   KEN  1:01:57
6  Abaneh AYELE                  ETH  1:02:14
7  Paul TANUI                      KEN  1:02:48
8  Amos MITEI                    KEN  1:02:48
9  Albert MATEBIOR             KEN  1:02:54
10 Michael SHELLEY            AUS  1:02:58

WOMEN:
1  Worknesh DEGEFA             ETH  1:08:46
2  Jemima JELEGAT                  KEN  1:08:48
3  Filomena CHEPCHIRCHIR      KEN  1:08:51
4  Eunice KIRWA                       KEN  1:08:59
5  Josephine CHEPKOECH         KEN  1:09:20
6  Valeria STRANEO                  ITA  1:09:47
7  Jane Jelegat KIPTOO            KEN  1:09:53
8  Philes ONGORI                     KEN  1:10:29
9  Gladys KIPSOI                      KEN  1:11:42
10 Dulce FELIX                         POR  1:13:54