Kisorio wins 40th edition of Stramilano Half Marathon in 60:03

Milan, Italy – Kenyan Matthew Kisorio took the win improving his PB by seven seconds with 60:03 at today’s Stramilano Half Marathon which celebrated its 40th edition on a cloudy morning but otherwise with ideal weather conditions.

Kisorio, fourth at last week’s IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Punta Umbria, beat his 18-year-old compatriot Eric Ndiema who finished second in 60:20 ahead of Dereje Deme Hailegiorgis, third in 60:25.

In the women’s race 20-year-old Ethiopian Ababel Eyeshaneh Brihane took the honours in 69:54 ahead of Italian Anna Incerti, runner-up in 70:41.

MEN

The men’s race set off at a very fast pace on the flat Milan course inside a 59:25-59:30 pace. Peter Kurui led a six man group who went through 5km in 14:06. The leading pack also featured Ethiopians Shumi Leche Dechasa, Atalay Yrsaw Tegene, Dereje Deme Hailegiorgis and Kenyans Matthew Kisorio and Eric Ndiema.

They continued to push hard in the first 10km (8km in 22:36 and 10km in 28:16). Kisorio broke away at 13km with a decisive attack and at 15km he had carved out a gap of 6 seconds over Eric Ndiema, who entered the Stramilano with a 59:57 PB set last year in The Hague and finished third at last month’s Paris Half Marathon, and Dereje Deme.

Kisorio passed the 15 km in 42:24 to Ndiema’s 42:30. The pace slowed in the second half and any hopes of scoring the eighth sub-60 minutes in the history of the Stramilano vanished in the final kilometres.

Kisorio set his previous PB of 60:10 last October in Porto. He also boasts a 5000 metres track PB of 12:57:83 (2010) and won the 2008 IAAF World Junior silver medal over this distance. He is the fourth of seven children of the late Some Moge, first Kenya’s medallist at the World Cross Country Championships with bronze at Gateshead in 1983.

“I was aiming at running under 60 minutes but it was a good race, anyway”, said Kisorio. “The conditions were perfect for running. I was running at sub-60 minutes (pace) but I had some problems in the final kilometres. My goal is to make the Kenyan team in the 10,000 metres for the World Championships in Daegu,”  said Kisorio, who trains with the group guided by Italian coach Claudio Berardelli.

The local interest was focused on the half marathon debut of former European Junior and Under 23 Cross Country champion Andrea Lalli who ran a good race finishing seventh, first among Europeans in 62:32.

RESULTS

MEN
1 Matthew Kisorio (Kenya) 60:03
2 Eric Ndiema (Kenya) 60:20
3 Dereje Deme Hailegiorgis (Ethiopia) 60:25
4 Peter Kurui (Kenya) 60:40
5 Yrasaw Tegene Atalay (Ethiopia) 60:59
6 Shumi Dechese Leche (Ethiopia) 61:52
7 Andrea Lalli (Italy) 62:32
8 Geoffrey Ngugi (Kenya) 62:35

…11 Viktor Röthlin (Switzerland) 62:45

WOMEN
1 Brihane Eyeshaneh Ababel (Ethiopia) 69:54
2 Anna Incerti (Italy) 70:41
3 Krisztina Papp (Hungary) 71:47
4 Valeria Straneo (Italy) 73:22
5 Martina Facciani (Italy) 74:29
6 Marcella Mancini (Italy) 74:34