Cape Town Marathon champion Mohamed Esa won admirers after waiting at the finish line to congratulate fellow runners, including his idol Eliud Kipchoge.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane Independent Media
Ethiopia’s Mohamed Esa described his record-breaking victory at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon as a triumph for African running after producing the fastest marathon ever run on the continent on Sunday.
Esa stormed to victory in 2:04:55, obliterating the previous course record by more than three minutes in a race that underlined the growing stature of the Cape Town event as it pushes towards Abbott World Marathon Major status. But despite shattering the course mark and becoming the first athlete to dip below 2:05 on African soil, Esa insisted afterwards that winning in Africa mattered more than the time on the clock.
“To be honest, I was not thinking about the course record today, because my target was to win the race in my African homeland,” said Esa.
“I would like to say thank you very much to the race organisers, for giving me a chance to come here and to race on African soil. The win was the priority, and I was not targeting the course record, but I am really happy that I could do both today.”
The Ethiopian also won admiration after waiting at the finish line to congratulate fellow runners, including marathon great Eliud Kipchoge, who finished 16th in his first marathon on African soil.
“Eliud is my role model, and I love and respect him so much,” Esa said.
“I was so proud to race with him and finish this race with him today on our home continent. I wanted to show the world that we are the same family of African runners.”
The women’s race also belonged to Ethiopia, with Dera Dida claiming victory in 2:23:18 after breaking clear over the closing kilometres. While pleased with the win, Dida admitted she had hoped to attack Glenrose Xaba’s course record of 2:22:22 before windy conditions and the nature of the route slowed the leading pack.
Dera Dida has vowed to return for another crack at Glenrose Xaba's Cape Town Marathon record next year, after falling just short in claiming victory in the women's race on Sunday.
Image: Ayande Ndamane? Ondependent Media
“I came here to win the race – that was my goal – so around 36km I felt very confident that the race was mine to win,” Dida said.
“On Friday, I was discussing with myself to try break the course record, and I was also thinking about it while I was racing, but there was some wind, and some curves in the route that made us a little bit too slow for the course record.”
Dida, however, promised she would return.
“I’ll be very, very happy to come back here and then to try break the course record next year.”