Mary Keitany & 17-Year Old Dennis Koech Win 2012 RAK Half-Marathon

 

Below you will find top 20 results from the 2012 RAK Half marathon which took place Friday morning in the United Arab Emirates (Thursday at 10 PM ET in the US) under windy conditions.

Kenya's Mary Keitany, who set a world record in this race last year of 65:50 (although two other women have run faster on non-record eligible courses), went after her record for the first 10km (31:09 which is 65:43 10km pace) but ended up settling for a dominant win as 2nd place was some 2:24 behind as she ran 66:42. The 66:42 still is #8 all-time for the half-marathon.

The 7 faster halves ever run by women are as follows:

        1      65:40a     Paula Radcliffe                    GBR     17.12.73    1      Newcastle-South Shields       21.09.2003
        2      65:44a     Susan Chepkemei                    KEN     25.06.75    1      Lisboa                        01.04.2001
        3      65:50      Mary Keitany                       KEN     18.01.82    1      Ra's Al Khaymah               18.02.2011
        4      66:25      Lornah Kiplagat                    NED     01.05.74    1      Udine                         14.10.2007
        5      66:34a     Lornah Kiplagat                    KEN     20.03.74    2      Lisboa                        01.04.2001
        6      66:36      Mary Keitany                       KEN     18.01.82    1      Birmingham                    11.10.2009
        7      66:40@     Ingrid Kristiansen                 NOR     21.03.56    1      Sandnes                       05.04.1987

In the men's race, 17-year old Dennis Koech of Kenya who came in with a 61:30 half-marathon pr left with a win and a new pr of 60:34 (Editor's note: The IAAF is reporting that Koech is 18 but during the race telecast he was described as being 17). Koech, who is the training partner of the world's best marathoner Geofrrey Mutai and who was 9th in last year's junior xc championships in Kenya, was way out in front by the 40 minute mark and was able to hold off Ethiopia's Azmeraw Bekele, who has a 59:39 half-marathon pb, by 8 seconds. If you are wondering if this time is a new world junior best, the answer is, "Not even close." Sammy Wanjiru ran 59:16 at age 18 back in 2005.

Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich, who ran 2:03:42 in Berlin last fall, ended up third in 60:55. 2012 Houston-Half Marathon winner Feyisa Lelisa, who came into the race with the world's #1 time for 2012 thanks to his 59:22 at Houston, ended up 5th in 61:44 after taking the lead at the 10km mark and pushing the pace for a few minutes.

Note, when looking at the times below, you might want to subtract 6-8 seconds as the race featured a hilarious/delayed start. For some reason, there was no gun or horn to start the race - just simply an announcer counting down. But the runners were waiting for a gun or horn, so everyone just stood at the start line and didn't start running until 6 or 7 seconds into the race.

More: *IAAF Recap *MB: Official 2012 RAK Half Thread *Wilson Kipsang will beat G. Mutai @ RAK HM

Men's Top 20 Results

1.

13

Dennis Kipruto Koech

KEN

1:00:34

-

2.

7

Azmeraw Bekele

ETH

1:00:42

0:09

3.

2

Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich

KEN

1:00:55

0:22

4.

3

Bernard Kipyego

KEN

1:01:23

0:50

5.

12

Feyisa Lilesa

ETH

1:01:44

1:11

6.

9

Fabiano Joseph

TAN

1:01:53

1:20

7.

8

Kiplimo Kimutai

KEN

1:01:57

1:24

8.

10

Levy Matebo Omari

KEN

1:02:08

1:35

9.

11

Joseph Maregu

KEN

1:02:24

1:51

10.

6

Tsegaye Kebede

ETH

1:02:28

1:54

11.

4

Wilson Chebet

KEN

1:03:34

3:01

12.

2167

Gudeta Gemechu Biratu

ETH

1:04:12

3:39

13.

2166

Alelign Mehary Kehaliw

ETH

1:04:29

3:56

14.

996

John Ndungu

KEN

1:04:51

4:18

15.

951

Gatonye Daniel

KEN

1:06:35

6:02

16.

17

Sulti GURE TIMBRE

ETH

1:06:36

6:03

17.

18

Charles Koech

KEN

1:06:36

6:03

18.

2256

Ihya Ben Youssef

MAR

1:08:25

7:52

19.

2128

Marten Boström

FIN

1:09:39

9:06

20.

1950

AleĀš Miko

CZE

1:10:58

10:25

Women's Top 20 Results

1.

51

Mary Keitany

KEN

1:06:42

-

2.

56

Georgina Rono

KEN

1:09:06

2:24

3.

57

Gladys Cherono

KEN

1:09:06

2:25

4.

54

Feyse Tadese

ETH

1:09:08

2:26

5.

53

Hilda Kibet

NED

1:11:07

4:25

6.

52

Caroline Cheptonui Kilel

KEN

1:11:15

4:33

7.

58

Rose Chelimo

KEN

1:11:24

4:42

8.

60

Frehiwat Goshu

ETH

1:12:50

6:08

9.

59

Serena Burla

USA

1:13:35

6:54

10.

2295

Dehininet Demsew Jara

ETH

1:15:06

8:24

11.

1917

Emebet Belew Adane

ETH

1:16:24

9:42

12.

55

Anikó Kálovics

HUN

1:16:39

9:57

13.

2310

Tigist Mekonnen

ETH

1:18:48

12:07

14.

1651

Jane Khan

GBR

1:23:49

17:07

15.

107

Sonja Ellmann

GER

1:25:41

19:00

16.

657

Emma Phillips

GBR

1:28:06

21:25

17.

219

Connie Bouverot

AUS

1:28:56

22:14

18.

1947

Christina Kersey

NZL

1:29:31

22:50

19.

266

Debbie Powell

GBR

1:29:43

23:01

20.

1561

Lorna Bradford

GBR

1:30:02

23:20

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