Vodafone Delhi Half Marathon 2007

Company Brief

New Delhi, October 29, 2007

Rwanda's Diudone Disi lived up to his tag of pre-race favourite by running a strong race to break the existing course record and emerge winner in the overall men's category of the USD 1,60,000 prize money Vodafone Delhi Half Marathon, the world's richest and most prestigious half marathon, which was organized by Procam International in the capital on Sunday. Kenyan Isaac Macharia took second place behind Disi, while Tanzanian Dickson Marwa sprinted to a virtual photo finish for bronze.

Among the women, the pre-race favourites had to take a back seat as dark horse Deriba Alemu of Ethiopia won gold, also breaking the course record in the bargain. She was followed home by her country mate Habtamu Astede, with fancied Alice Timbilil of Kenya finishing third.

Disi reveled in the smooth conditions the new course offered and made light of the increasing humidity to breast the tape in 60.43 seconds, bettering Kenyan Francis Kibiwott's mark of 61.36 by 53 seconds. Such was the caliber of the race that second placed Macharia also broke Kibiwott's mark, coming home in 60.47.

Ram Singh Yadav successfully defended his title by emerging the best among Indian finishers and bettered his last year's timing to finish 16 th overall. Yadav clocked 66.09, bettering his own mark of 66.52 by 43 seconds and finishing second among the Indians and 17th overall was Deep Chand in 66.10, just a second behind Yadav. Kumar Mukesh finished in 66.12 and 18th overall, a creditable performance from the trio, bettering last year's showing.

The Indian women's category saw an unlikely winner in Kavita Raut, a 5,000m and 10,00m track runner from Nashik. Kavita clocked 78.34, to finish overall 15 th, with Bangalore's Preethi Rao finishing in 80.38 for 19th overall and Vaishali Chatare coming home in 81.58 for 20 th overall.

The initial lead in the men's event was taken by 2005 champion Philip Rugut, with Disi, Dickson Marwa and Mathew Koech forming the lead bunch. Fancied Wilson Kiprotich and Issac Macharia then made the charge after the 10km mark, taking with them the lead bunch. Disi was running strongly, while Rugut and Kiprotich faded a bit. Macharia and Didi then broke away from the bunch, both running shoulder to shoulder till the last kilometer, before Disi pulled away marginally and maintained the lead till the end. The race for third place was a full fledged sprint between Dickson Marwa, Patrick Mbuvi and Wilkson Kiprotich, with Marwa edging out the other two just at the finish line.

In the women's race it was Habtamu Atsede and Alice Timbilil who were doing the lead running with Deriba Alemu dogging their footsteps. A slight mistake by Alice at the 15km mark saw her fall back a bit and she could never recover from then. The long striding tall Deriba slowly broke away from Habtamu and continued her strong run to finish first.

Following are the results: (Top Ten)

International Men:

Diudone Disi (Rawanda) 1:00:43; Isaac Macharia (KEN) 1:00:48; Dickson Marwa (KEN) 1:02:02; Patrick Mbuvi (KEN) 1:02:03; Wilson Kiprotich (KEN) 1:02:04; Matthew Koech (KEN) 1:02:29; Philip Rugut (KEN) 1:02:58; Festus Langat (KEN) 1:03:08; John Kibowen (KEN) 1:03:09; Tsegaye Gebresallassie (ETH) 1:03:16.

International Women:

Deriba Alemu (ETH) 1:10:30; Atsede Habtamu (ETH) 1:10:36; Alice Timbilil (KEN) 1:10:40; Natalia Berkut (UKR) 1:11:14; Caroline Kwambai (KEN) 1:11:48; Teyiba Erkesso (ETH) 1:12:29; Alvetina Lvanova (RUS) 1:12:44; Dire Tune (ETH) 1:12:57; Irina Timofeyeva (RUS) 1:13:35; Tabitha Tsatsa (ZIM) 1:13:50.

Indian Men:

Ram Singh Yadav 1: 06:09; Deep Chand 1:06:10; Mukesh Kumar 1:06:12 ; Santosh Kumar Patel 1:06:13; Aswale Kashinath 1: 06:49 ; Sita Ram 1:06:50; Angad Kumar 1:07:10 ; R.B Subbra 1:07:19; Neeraj Pal Singh 1:07:20; Bhiron Singh Lone 1: 07:26.

Indian Women:

Kavita Raut 1:18:34 ; Preethi Rao 1: 20:38 ; Vaishali Chatare 1:21:58 ; Pashotleima Devi 1:24:42; Kamlesh Baghel 1:24:53 ; Reena Das 1:25:15; Jyoti Bisht 1:25:50.

Corporate Sporting Challenge Winner:

Royal Bank of Scotland ( 01:51:15 ); Nivio ( 02:07:01).

Wheelchair Event Winner:

Rajiv Virat (Multiple Sclerosis Society of India , Delhi Chapter).

For further information, please contact:

Rashi Tyagi

Associate Consultant

Hanmer & Partners Communications Pvt. Ltd.

Tel: + 91-11-46517700

Direct Line: +91-11-46517725

Mobile No: +919811427516

E-mail: rashi@hanmerpr.com / rashi.hanmerpr@gmail.com