RAS AL KHAIMAH HALF MARATHON: Alex Matata wins RAK Half Marathon, Ejgayehu Taye runs world leading time

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RAS AL KHAIMAH HALF MARATHON

Alex Matata wins the RAK Half Marathon, and Ejgayehu Taye runs a leading time.

Alex Matata of Kenya had the best career win in the 18th edition of the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon early today. But strong winds on an unusually cool morning in one of the smaller United Arab Emirates meant that Ejgayehu Taye’s attempt at the women’s world record would be blown off course, even if she had not started too fast.

The breeze and lack of a pacemaker to split the field meant the men’s race was relatively sedate and over-populated in the first 10k, with 20 men still in contention at 28min 34sec. But there was no mistaking Matata in the pack, channeling Michael Jackson with a pink glove on his right hand. ‘For wiping the sweat, that’s all,’ he explained afterward. But when colleague and race favorite Isaia Lasoi, who’d been sharing the lead with him, started feeling a groin strain, Matata began to assume the initiative.

‘I realized at 14k that I was stronger than the others, so I thought I had a good chance of winning,’ he said. He raised the pace such that the computed finish outside 60 minutes was soon transformed, and his relentless front-running dropped both his rivals and the time, and he ended up taking 17 seconds off his personal best with a win in 59min 20sec.

Lasoi hung in well and looked to have second place sewn up, significantly when Gemechu Dida suddenly dropped back with a kilometer to run. Still, the Ethiopian rallied and caught the Kenyan just before the line to get second and relegate Lasoi to the same third spot as last year. A stride can be costly in this sport. While Matata took home $20,000, Dida’s last-gasp second place earned him $10,000, four thousand more than Lasoi.

Matata is an outlier in Kenya, coming from the capital, Nairobi, instead of the western highlands’ hotbeds of excellence; he is also a relatively late starter in his early twenties. But when he began running well with a 61.03 clocking in the Nairobi half-marathon in 2021, he was persuaded to move up to Eldoret, the heartland of national distance running. Now at 27, a regime of 150 kilometers a week has seen him transformed into a regular winner, with four victories and three sub-60min clockings in his five half-marathons last year. And now, he’s given himself a New Year’s present. But he’s not tempted to move up to the marathon yet. ‘Not for two years. I still want to run faster at the half-marathon, in the 58 minutes and maybe 57 minutes.

Ejgayegu Taye, photo by Giancarlo Colombo for Ras Al Khaimah Half marathon

In the women’s race, Ejgayehu Taye was so confident that she could run well that she even brought her own pacemaker, Wosinew Admasu. And a starting temperature of 12C (54F) felt good until she headed into the wind. Although the expected contest with her colleague Girmawit Gebrzihair did not materialize (the latter dropped out), things went to plan for the first five kilometers, which she covered in 14min 57sec. But the pace and wind took their toll, and she fell further behind her schedule. She was grateful to win 65.52, precisely three minutes outside her target time. ‘I was expecting to run fast, even maybe get the world record, but the wind was too strong; I felt it was pushing me back. But I’m glad to win’. Her time is a world lead for 2025.

Results, Men:

1. Alex Matata KEN 59:20

2. Gemechu Dida ETH 59:25

3. Isaia Lasoi KEN 59:26

4. Chimdessa Debele ETH 59:28

5. Gerba Dibaba ETH 59:35

6. Nibret Melak ETH 59:45

7. Hillary Kipkoech KEN 59:53

8. Tesfaye Deriba ETH 59:56

9. Haftamu Gebresilase ETH 59:56

10. Mao Ako TAN 60:28

Women: