Sport

Two out of three ain't bad for Kositany in Belfast Marathon

Kenya's Joel Kipsang Kositany takes the tape in Ormeau Park yesterday after winning the Belfast Marathon for the second time in three years
Kenya's Joel Kipsang Kositany takes the tape in Ormeau Park yesterday after winning the Belfast Marathon for the second time in three years Kenya's Joel Kipsang Kositany takes the tape in Ormeau Park yesterday after winning the Belfast Marathon for the second time in three years

Two out of three is not bad at all for Kenyan Joel Kipsang Kositany as he repeated his 2013 victory in yesterday’s 34th Belfast City Marathon.

Kositany broke the tape in a relatively modest two hours, 19 minutes and 36 seconds after a tactical race and with times affected by the windy conditions.

The pre-race favourite, Ethiopia's Berhan Aregawi Gebrenmichal, won the women's event in 2:40:57, while Eddie McGinley and Sharon Barlow picked up the prizes for first Northern Ireland finishers in the male and female categories.

Kositany went to the front from the gun outside City Hall at 9am yesterday morning and was accompanied by the two Omagh-based Project Africa Athletics athletes, Gideon Kimosop and Vincent Kiprotich, for most of the race.

Kiprotich, whose training has been hampered by a broken bone in his foot, slipped off the pace before halfway, leaving Kimosop and Kositany to fight out the victory over the closing miles.

The pair were still together at 24 miles and it looked it could be either man’s race until Kositany, who has a personal best of 2:09:50, moved away to win by 53 seconds. Hungary’s Tomas Nagy came through late in the race to take third in 2:24:22, ahead of McGinley who ran a canny race to finish fourth in 2:24:55.

That time is just three seconds outside McGinley’s best for the distance, set in Dublin last autumn, and was good enough to lift the cheque for first local finisher. Ballymena Runners' Ben Morrow and Annadale Strider Keith Purdy were the next northern athletes home in 2:44:29 and 2:45:49 respectively.

“I’m delighted to be honest,” said McGinley.

“I was paced around by our [Annadale Striders] relay squad but I still had a rough patch at 10 miles. Thankfully I came around and finished really strong.

"I passed three runners in the last few miles but I was only running for the money and I was surprised to be so close to my Dublin time. My training for this has been a lot more relaxed, I think because it’s Belfast.”

The women’s race was a one-horse race from the outset with Gebremichal leading all the way before coming home over 10 minutes clear of her nearest rival.

Morocco's Elaatiba Khadja was second in 2:51:05 with Hungary's Katalin Garami almost another five minutes back in third with a 2:55:42 time.

Yorkshire-based Sharon Barlow was the first NI finisher in 2:57:01, seeing off the challenge of former Commonwealth Games representative Teresa Duffy McCluskey by 19 seconds. Another Beechmount Harrier, Gerrie Short, was third in 3:01:14.

Earlier, the Ireland women’s 4x100m relay team had finished fifth in their heat on day two of the IAAF World Relay Championships in the Bahamas.

City of Lisburn’s Amy Foster led off the quartet, completed by Steph Creaner, Catherine McManus and Phil Healy, who clocked 45.38 in a heat won by Jamaica in 42.60 seconds.

“It was out first relay of the year, the baton got round, so that’s all you can really ask for at this stage,” said Foster.

“This is our first time on a world stage. If we’re going to progress and make worlds and Olympics, then we need to be here.”

The team had set an Irish record the previous evening when they finished fifth in the 4x200m, clocking 1:36.90 as Nigeria took gold in 1:30.52.

The Irish men’s 4x400m squad finished sixth in their heat on Saturday night and were eliminated. Waterford man Tomas Barr celebrated his being named European Male Athlete of the Month by contributing a sparkling 45.13 leg.