Lavasa (Pune): Kenyan athletes dominated the inaugural Rs 8 lakh prize money Lavasa Hill Run by clinching the titles in the men's and women's 10km endurance run here today. Bangalore full marathon champion Daniel Cheruiyot Yegon of Kenya clinched the first place in the men's 10-km endurance race, held in the scenic city, with a time of 31 minutes and 32 seconds.
The corresponding women's tile was won by Kenya's Gladys Tarus. The 30-year old Yegon, who had finished second in the Melbourne half marathon held in October last, edged out Ethiopia's junior cross country champion Geberesodik Alemayehu and India's Hawaldar Mansingh to win the race, held on twisting and climbing roads that tested the endurance of all runners.
Professional long distance runner Yegon, for whom it was his third title in long distance road races in India in 30 days, thus took home the top prize of Rs one lakh while runner up Alemayehu and 3rd-placed Hawaldar Mansingh, a national cross country champion who won the 10 km road race at Pune last month, bagged Rs 50,000 and 25,000, respectively. Incidentally, cross country running expert Alemayehu had come first in the 10-km races at Bangalore and Goa last month before finishing second here.
In the women's 10km race, Gladys Tarus won the gold with a measure of comfort clocking 37:24.00 leaving Asefa Dezabeh (Ethiopia, 39:00.01)) and 17-year-old Sangli girl Komal Ahiwale (India, 47:25.02) to win the silver and bronze.
The winner took home Rs one lakh. Yegon, who is returning home now for training before coming back to take part in the Standard Chartered Mumbai full marathon on January 19, said he had run around 15 road races in the country after his first visit in 2009.
Yegon, who had won the Goa half marathon and was second over the same distance in Pune last year, and the 19-year-old Ethiopian cross country expert fought a battle for supremacy, with the lead changing hands, till the eighth kilometer when the experienced Kenyan runner surged ahead and maintained the advantage to romp home.
Later, Yegon said this had been the best race, because of the hilly terrain and scenic route, that he had taken part in the country. "The climb was very steep. The only drawback was the start of the race (10 AM) as it became hot. It should be started at 7 AM," he said which was acknowledged by the other two medal winners.
Organisers Lavasa Corporation's senior vice president of marketing and sales Anuradha Paraskar said later that the race was started late as they wanted runners from Mumbai too to reach here this morning.
"We had a great response with almost 1,000 people taking part. We wanted people from Mumbai too to come after starting from there this morning and that's why we kept the 10am start but going forward next year we can make some changes," she told reporters.
The race had been sanctioned by Athletics Federation of India and two officials of the Maharashtra state unit Satish Utchil and Homiyar Mistry were in-charge of the technical side.
