Rotich, Chemutai take national road title

 By Norman Katende

National Half Marathon (21km)

Men results

1 Daniel Rotich (Standard) 1:02:15

2 Moses Kibet (Arua) 1:03:00

3 Isaac Ayeko (Elgon) 1:03:14

4 Moses Kipsiro (Elgon) 1:03:15

5 Geoffrey Kusuro (Arua) 1:03:36

Women

1 Vanice Chemutai (prisons) 1:16:44

2 Jane Suuto (Arua) 1:17:26

3 Dorcus Chesang (Arua) 1:21:03

4 Regina Cherotich (Prisons) 1:21:03

5 Irene Chemutai (Prisons) 1:22:42

Daniel Rotich broke off at the half way mark and never looked behind as he won the national half marathon championships that were held at Mbale on Saturday.  Vanice Chemutai took advantage of her good climb to win the women event of the 21km race, which was used to select a team that will represent Uganda at the   IAAF World half marathon championships that are due next month in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Moses Kibet took an early lead   but towards the  8km mark, he  somehow relaxed to allow  the following pack that had Moses Kipsiro, Rotich, Isaac Ayeko, Nathan Ayeko, Geoffrey Kusuro among others catch up with him.

true

However, after the half-way mark, Rotich escaped in the first uphill and he never looked back as he  sped to a 1 hour 2 minutes and 15 seconds finish to win his first race.

It was a good pay back for Rotich, who last weekend lost to Moses Kipsiro in the national cross country championships at Jinja.

“I had not yet learnt about the route but after going through it in the first half, I planned. I wanted to perform better but when I settled, I knew that nothing could stop me,” said Rotich.

Moses Kibet on the other part was happy about his position, saying finishing second in his second half marathon showed that there were many things yet to come.

true

“I had taken the lead but with the calibre of people I was running with, I did not need to burn myself. So I had to slow down and reserve the energy for the other half,” said Kibet, who managed to again escape with 6km to go to finish second.

In the women event,   marathoner Jane Suuto nearly shocked the youngsters, though Chemutai’s good uphill and sprints saw her win by a gap of about 10m.

“It was tight but the weather was friendly,” said Chemutai in a race where Dorcus Inzikuru and Adero Nyakisi made comebacks, finishing in7th and 6th position respectively.

true

“This is my first long run and I can say that I am coming back to full fitness. I did not know that I was going to finish the race,” said Inzikuru after the race.

true