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).