Kenyans dominate 39th Vodafone Istanbul marathon

ISTANBUL

Kenyan athletes dominated the 39th Vodafone Istanbul Marathon on Sunday in which tens of thousands of people from around the world ran from Asia to Europe.

In the women's category, Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich ranked first, while French athlete of Kenyan origin Abraham Kiprotich was the best male runner.

Chepngetich covered the 46-km (26-mile) run in 2 hours, 22 minutes and 36 seconds. Kiprotich covered the same distance in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 22 seconds.

Kenyan Visiline Jepkesho came second in the women's category, covering the distance four seconds later. She was followed by Ethiopian Letebrhan who finished in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 14 seconds.

In the men's category, Kenyan Jacob Kendagor was the first runner-up, completing the run in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopian Bazu Worku, finished third in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 39 seconds.

The world's only transcontinental marathon hosted 86 elite athletes from Kenya, Ethiopia, Namibia, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, France, Serbia, and Turkey.

The race had four other categories aside from the marathon including 15km (9.3-mile), 10km (6.2-mile) and 8km (4.97-mile) events plus a race for wheelchair-bound participants.

The starting point of the marathon was the Asian side of Istanbul’s July 15 Martyrs’ Bridge, formerly known as the Bosphorus Bridge. It ended at the historic Sultanahmet Square on the city’s European side.

This year’s theme was: "We are running for the future of our children."

The total prize money for the race was $1 million.

Vodafone was the main sponsor of the race organized by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Spor Istanbul.

Reporting by Emre Dogan and Ercan by Cansu Dikme