Meskerem Assefa‘s victory in Nagoya established her breakthrough into the world marathon elite, as her time of 2:21:45 was a new personal best by over 2 minutes, placing her 10th on the ’18 marathon world chart. After running negative splits of 1:11:33 and 1:10:12, Assefa crossed the line in Nagoya with over a minute’s margin to 2nd-placer Valery Aiyabei (2:22:48). Assefa in January finished 2nd at the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon (2:28:48).
James Rungaru won a down-to-the-wire contest in Den Haag, his time of 59:38 just edging Leonard Langat‘s 59:41, moving them to 6th and 7th place, respectively, on the ’18 HM world chart. Rungaru’s time was a new personal best for the distance, his previous best being 1:00:12 from 2015. Other notable Personae finishers were Dominic Kiptarus (3rd in 1:00:07 PB / ’18 world no. 14), Japhet Korir (4th in 1:00:09 / ’18 world no. 15), Homiyu Tesfaye (6th in 1:01:20 PB and ’18 Europe no. 3), Dawit Wolde (9th in 1:02:05), and newcomers Isaac Kipsang Temoi (1:02:20 PB) and Peter Kiprotich Peter (1:02:23 PB). Finishing 2nd-3rd-4th among the women in Den Haag were Genet Gashie (1:11:52 PB), Zewdnesh Ayele (1:12:42), and Sara Ramadhani Makera (1:13:52).
Finally, at the Barcelona Marathon (also on 11. March), Personae newcomer Silas Too finished 2nd in a new personal best of 2:08:26 (’18 world no. 20). Lucy Ndunga, also new to the Personae group, placed 5th in the women’s competition in Barcelona with a 2:35:42 PB.