New Telegraph

Kenyans dominate at maiden Ijebu Half Marathon

…as Rite Foods reward 11-year-old with N250k

 

It was another clean sweep for Kenyan athletes at the maiden edition of Airtel Ijebu Heritage Half Marathon staged in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State on July 17, as they claim the men and women race.

 

The 21km race was won by Hosea Kiplimo who finished the race in 1:02:36 while his counterpart, Rhonzas Kilimo finished second in 1:02:57. The third position went to another Kenyan, Timothy Ronoh, who raced to the finish line in 1:02:59.

 

The women’s race was also won by another Kenya, Sandra Chebet in a time of 1:10:42, with two Ethiopians taking the second and third position. Gebaynesh Ayele came second while Beyenu Degefa was third with a time of 1:10:52 and 1:11:02 respectively.

 

The first Ijebu man to finish the race was Femi Olusanya, a police officer from Ijebu Ode who promised to fight for the top five positions in the next edition. It was a shout of how come when an 11-year-old Abigael Ogunbowale completed the 21km of the race at the Dipo Dina Stadium. Apart from the coach popularly known as Buka T in Ijebu, nobody  including Abigael’s mother gave her a chance to complete the race. Meanwhile, the managing Director of Rite Foods, the producer of Bigi, the official beverages for the race,

 

Seleem Adegbuwa, said they are looking forward to making it better next year while donating N250,000 for the 11-year-old girl who finished the race. Speaking during the event, Adegbuwa said it was a beauty to behold seeing such a girl competing with established stars despite her age and look forward to seeing her getting better.

 

“I really want to give kudos to all the athletes who started and finish the race, we are looking at making it better next year,” he said. “As the son of the soil, been involved I will say it is a no brainer because it is our thing and it is really important that we bring event of these nature home,

 

I mean world class events like this. “We intend to do more in sports with Abeokuta Marathon also coming up later in the year and we are looking forward to more like that.”

 

 

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