Women smash records at Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon.
In terms of record breaking results, the women triumphed over their male counterparts at the Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon which entered its fourth race year yesterday.
Running her personal best time of 1:10:38, Betelhem Moges from Ethiopia managed to smash the race record. At the tender age of twenty following on from three second place results, Kenyan Henry Kiplagat scooped up his third victory at the RunCzech Running League races to add to two other wins at last year’s Mattoni Prague Grand Prix and the Volkswagen Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon.
The first Czechs to cross the finish were Jiří Homoláč 1:08:36 (ninth overall) and Olomouc native Petra Kamínková who achieved her personal “Olomouc” record with a time of 1:19:00.
The race, which saw a record three and a half thousand runners set off on the new course, was also the proud bearer of the Silver Quality Label award from the International Association of Athletics Federations, the IAAF for the first time. High levels of humidity and unbearable heat made smashing records rather a challenging task, though by the start at 7pm the sky had fortunately clouded over and runners were blessed with a refreshing gentle breeze.
At the fifth kilometre the top five runners still held together, however by the tenth, Japanese hope Maruyama had fallen away. The women in contrast stuck together as one group right up until the second half of the race.
“I’m really pleased, I’ve improved,” boasted a triumphant Kiplagat who managed to secure himself a lead of eleven seconds at the 15th kilometre. “I could tell that my two rivals were tired and so I seized the opportunity to take advantage. The people on the course really spurred me on too.”
Right till the end it was impossible to tell who would rake in the 3 500 Euros up for grabs in prize money. Finally though this extra bonus went to 22-year old Ethiopian: “I started to speed up around the twentieth kilometre but Yebrqal (editor’s note: Melese, who finished second place) caught me up. I went for it one more time five hundred metres from the finish, and thankfully it paid off.”
She was clearly absolutely delighted with the win. “I wanted to improve my personal best so I have a better chance of joining more great races. That was my main objective and it just happened to work out for me that my time also broke the race record,” said the woman who has already earned herself one win from the series so far – the Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon last year.
Donning the Czech flag and thanking all of her wonderful fans along the course, it could be said that local star, Petra Kamínková was even more elated with her result than the actual winner. “It was the first time for me running in a group, but around the eleventh kilometre I lost the girls. I was left to focus on taking on the two African women I could see in front of me, so I concentrated on that plus kept an eye on my time. Considering the weather conditions weren’t ideal, I think it’s a great result and am especially delighted to have performed so well on home soil,” she said.
Kamínková clearly isn’t lacking on the energy front, having managed to squeeze in a shift at her family restaurant in Svatý Kopeček on Friday as well as on race day. “Seeing the results of the Czech athletes at the team championships in Dublin in the afternoon really encouraged me. I then hopped on the bus and headed to the race. I don’t have to work again this evening though,” she revealed with a chuckle. “I’ll have a beer but then I’ll be up again early in the morning for work”.
In contrast to this, Czech Marathon Champion Jiří Homoláč didn’t appear to be so content. “Once again I was running alone,” the runner revealed, adding: “My time is really poor (1:08:36), but I’m pleased to have defended the Czech title. Ever since the marathon in May, I’ve been relaxing and focusing more on track courses. I wanted to catch Ukrainian runner, Lashyna but he was always around two hundred metres ahead of me.” Homoláč will be heading to the half marathon at the Universiade in the Russian city of Kazan. “I want to give it my best shot and hopefully there’ll be a tighter group of us there.”
Spectators were able to check out performances by a number of well-known personalities including cardiologist, Jan Pirk, former athlete and wife of Olympian winner, Robert Šebrle, Eva Šebrlová, former Minister of Transport and Connections Jaromír Schling as well as opera singer from the Moravian Theatre, Radek Leszczynski.
Other runs taking place as part of this year’s RunCzech Running League include the O2 Prague Grand Prix on 7th September and the Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon on 15th September.
The Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon:
Men: 1st Kiplagat 1:03:00, 2nd Kiprotich (both from Kenya) 1:03:20, 3rd El Azíz (Morocco) 1:03:36, 4th Maruyama (Japan) 1:03:44, 5th Negash (Norway) 1:04:56, 6th Wasihun (Ethiopia) 1:04:59,… 9th Homoláč 1:08:36,… 11th Serbesa 1:10:31, 12th Kohut (all from Czech Republic ) 1:11:17.
Women: 1st Moges 1:10:38, 2nd Melese (both from Ethiopia) 1:10:43, 3rd Kiptoo (Kenya) 1:11:19,… 9th Kamínková 1:19:00, 10. Pastorová 1:21:32, … 12th Macháčková 1:23:57 (all from the Czech Republic).
