The Mainova Frankfurt Marathon held 28. October featured a deep women’s field, which saw the lead group of 12 runners pass through the half marathon mark in 1:09:55. By 40 km, Meskerem Assefa and Haftamnesh Tesfay had left everyone else behind and the race subsequently went down to the wire, with Assefa pulling away to win in a new personal best and new course record, 2:20:36. Runner-up Tesfay (2:20:47) and 3rd-placer Bedatu Hirpa (2:21:32) secured an Ethiopian sweep of the podium. Stella Barsosio finished 9th (2:25:00). This was Assefa’s second marathon win of the year (2:21:45 in Nagoya) and her new PB moves her to 12th on the ’18 women’s world marathon chart.
In the men’s competition in Frankfurt, Martin Kiprugut Kosgey was also involved with a competitive field that produced an even tighter finish than the women’s. After a front group of 6 runners passed the halfway point in 1:02:28, it was down to just Kosgey and Kelkile Gezahegn by 35 km, with Gezahegn eventually edging Kosgey at the finish by a narrow 2:06:37 to 2:06:41 margin. The latter time established a new personal best for Kosgey (2:07:22 at ’16 Frankfurt).
The Wolkswagen Ljubljana Marathon, also held on 28. October, saw Visiline Jepkesho capture her second marathon victory of the year with a course record and season best time of 2:22:58, ahead of runner-up Selly Kipyego (2:23:15). Jepkesho previously this year won the Rotterdam Marathon in 2:23:17.
Picture: iaaf.org.
