A great weekend for Ethiopian athlets

P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon & 1/2 Marathon

Ethiopian athletes dominated both the marathon and half-marathon races in men as well as women and for good measure Haile added a new world record in half-marathon (58 minutes and 55 seconds) to his accomplishments reducing the previous mark by 21 seconds.

Marathon
Men:
1, Shimelis Mola, Ethiopia, 2:13:08.
2, Terefae Yee, Ethiopia, 2:13:13
3, Asnake Fekadu, Ethiopia, 2:15:13
4, Belay Welasha, Ethiopia, 2:17:53
5, Yuriy Hychun, Ukraine, 2:20:57.

Women:
1, Shitaye Gemechu, Ethiopia, 2:31:44
2, Askale Tafa, Ethiopia, 2:31:46
3, Hiromi Ominami, Japan, 2:36:08
4, Salomie Getnet, Ethiopia, 2:36:55
5, Abeba Tola, Ethiopia, 2:38:19.

Half Marathon
1, Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopia, 58:55
2, Tessena Abshiro, Ethiopia, 1:02:57
3, Habte Jifar, Ethiopia, 1:04:40
4, Abiyota Guta, Ethiopia, 1:05:58
5, Fidele Barangsabe, Ethiopia, 1:08:44.

Source: www.iaaf.org.

Great Edinburgh Cross Country

Kenenisa Bekele came from behind to beat Saif Saeeed Shaheen in a dramatic fashion at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country 9km race. Geleta Burka won the women's 6km with a dominant performance relegating the defending champion and favourite Tirunesh Dibaba to third place.

RESULTS

Men's 9.2km
1 K Bekele (Eth) 26:08,
2 S Shaheen (Qat) 26:12,
3 Z Tadesse (Eri) 26:18,
4 D Ritzenhein (USA) 27:03,
5 S Lebid (Ukr) 27:22,
6 T Bacha (Eth) 27:51,
7 T Shifer (Eth) 27:51,


Women 6km:
1 G Burika (Eth) 19:01,
2 I Ochichi (Ken) 19:12,
3 T Dibaba (Eth) 19:21,
4 H Kibet (Ken) 19:47,
5 G Getenah (Eth) 19:48,
6 E Dibaba (Eth) 19:49,

Source: www.iaaf.org.

24rd Cross Internacional de Itálica’

In another cross-country event in Seville, Spain, Abebe Dinkessa and Sileshi Sihine were 1 and 2 in the Men's race while Bizunesh Bekele led an Ethiopian sweep of the first three positions in the Women's race.

Results

Men (10.8km course)
1. Abebe Dinkesa (Eth) 31:03
2. Sileshi Sihine (Eth) 31:10
3. Charles Kamathi (Ken) 31:11

Women (6.6km course)
1. Bizunesh Bekele (Eth) 21:32
2. Meselech Melkamu (Eth) 21:36
3. Derbe Alemu (Eth) 21:40

Source: www.iaaf.org.