For the second consecutive year a Japanese runner has won the Blackmores Sydney Marathon, Tomohiro Tanigawa finishing atop the standings in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 13 seconds (2:12:13), the third fastest time in the history of the event.
Up to 33,000 people ran and walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to finish lines at the Sydney Opera House and Conservatorium of Music in the 16th running of the event.
Tanigawa made his break for victory in the latter stages of the race after running in a three-man group that chased down early leader, and pre-race favourite and marathon debutant, Mogos Shumay of Eritrea.
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Eventually Shumay fell away to finish fifth as Tanigawa won, Ethiopia’s Belachew Ameta finished second (2:13:09), Julius Wahome of Kenya finished third (2:14:15). Fellow Japanese athlete Taiki Yoshimura was fourth.
“I am very excited and very happy today. My only focus was to win the race, so I was surprised to run so close my PB,” Tanigawa said.
“It was hard to tell if I was leading or not, as we approached the last three kilometres the pack started to get slower, so I kept to my own pace and moved ahead and felt that I was winning.
“I was determined to win today and accomplished that. It will be a big record for my career.”
It was a one-runner show in the women’s event as Melbourne-based Ethiopian Makda Haji dominated in a time of 2 hours, 32 minutes, 22 seconds (2:32:22). She finished an astounding six minutes and 39 seconds ahead of Bahrain’s Merima Hasen (2:39:02); China’s Yinli He (2:44:17) completed the podium.
“I prepared for this race very, very well and from the start I came here to win,” Haji said.
“I had planned to run between two hours and 26 or 27 minutes, which would have been close to my best from Paris Marathon in 2012, but unfortunately I could not do that today. I am still happy with the result.
“I pushed the pace hard from the start, however in the middle of the race I felt something wasn’t quite right, which I think impacted my finishing time.
“Today I actually found this course quite difficult, but am very happy with my win.”
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