Gemechu Tolosa Dana (ገመቹ ቶሎሳ ዳና) won the PremiumTrust Bank Abuja City International Half Marathon on Saturday, November 14, and he needed every last stride to do it. The Ethiopian crossed the line at the Velodrome of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in 1:01:56, just two seconds ahead of Nigeria’s Gang James. Kenya’s Lampard Kingoo was only one more second back in 1:01:59.
For the home crowd, second place felt a lot like a win. Gang James broke the Nigerian half marathon record with his 1:01:58, and he gave the Ethiopian full credit afterward. “Running against Gemechu and the Kenyans pushed me to give my best,” he told reporters. “I knew I had to stay with them till the end.”
Gemechu took home the $8,000 first prize. Kenya’s Enos Kipruto finished fourth in 1:02:06 and Uganda’s Julius Ochieng was fifth in 1:02:27.
Ethiopia had a winner in the women’s race too. Tegest Tesema (ትዕግስት ተሰማ) took the women’s elite title in 1:13:46, according to Moyo Sports, giving Ethiopian runners both crowns in the Nigerian capital.
This was only the third edition of the race, a 21 kilometer (13.1 mile) course from Mohammed Buhari Way to the national stadium, and it pulled in more than 5,000 runners. It also opened a big weekend for Ethiopian road running. Less than a day later, Addisu Gobena and Wede Kefale swept the Hong Kong Bridge Half Marathon. For the long history behind results like these, see our list of Ethiopian marathon winners by year.
