Kipsiro reigns supreme in Manchester

By Norman Katende

Bupa Great Manchester Run

Men

Moses Kipsiro (Uganda) 27:52

Wilson Kipsang (Kenya) 27:53

Haile Gebreselassie (Ethiopia) 28:00

S.  Mokoka (South Africa) 28:12

S. Lebid (Ukraine) 28:28

WILSON Kipsang’s revenge plan against Uganda fell on the wayside as he lost to Moses Kipsiro in the Bupa Great Manchester 10km Run that was held on Sunday in Manchester, UK.

Kipsang, who settled for bronze at the London 2012 Olympic Games marathon, where Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich walked away with gold, had got a great opportunity to avenge his country’s defeat.

He however watched on helplessly as Kipsiro overtook him with less than 100m to go to win the event. The 5000m and 10000m double Commonwealth Games champion clocked 27 minutes and 52 seconds to win the 10km  race, which position came with a sh2m cash reward, minus the appearance fee which was anticipated to be over sh6m.

Kipsiro, who missed out of the World Cross country championships medal podium, after finishing fourth in Bydgoszcz, Poland early this year reached the last 200m in second position, but confirmed that he was working on his good finish kick as he sped past Kipsang to win. He beat his childhood hero, the legendary Haile Gebreselassie, who came in third.

“It was a dream come true. It was very interesting and very amazing to run with Haile. When I was young, I always wanted to run with him,” he told journalists on one of the greatest world runners after he finished the race.

The 40-year-old Gebreselassie fell off the pace in the last kilometre, though he came home with a World Masters record of 28:00 to supersede the performance of Portugal’s Paulo Catarino who clocked 28:51 in 2003.

It was a shoulder to shoulder for the three African, who clocked 14:08 after 5km though Gebreselassie was visibly struggling with the pace I the 2km as he fell off and Kipsang took control.

“I was not confident to win as I knew it was going to be a very tough competition. I kept telling myself ‘push, push,’ although I knew I had the kick to win,” Kipsiro told the journalists after the race.