Ethiopians Mekuria and Birhanu Claim Ottawa Marathon Victories

Published by IAAF on May 24, 2015

Ethiopia’s Aberu Mekuria won the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon on Sunday (24) with the second-fastest time in the history of the IAAF Silver Label Road Race, while compatriot Girmay Birhanu won the men’s race in what was his fourth marathon in seven months.

Mekuria took almost half a minute off her PB to win in 2:25:30. Birhanu’s winning time of 2:08:14 was his third sub-2:09 clocking of the year. It was the third year in a row that Ethiopians had won both races in Ottawa.

The women’s race was an Ethiopian affair with four of the top six places filled by their contingent. The heavily favoured Meselech Melkamu was at the front of a large pack for most of the race but that group whittled down to three by 40km. It was shortly after this point that Mekuria put her foot down and opened a gap, holding it to the finish.

Her winning time of 2:25:30 was within a minute of Tigist Tufa’s 2014 course record of 2:24:31. Kenya’s Rebecca Chesire was second in 2:25:41 and Abebech Afework took third in 2:25:53. Melkamu finished fifth in 2:26:45.