Herpa Guta, Kibet Koech secures success at 2023 Lagos City Marathon
Almenesh Herpa Guta delighted fans with a narrow women’s race win, while Kibet Edwin Koech triumphed to take the men’s title at the 2023 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon – a World Athletics Gold Label event – on Saturday, Feb. 4.
Organisers had put several measures in place for this year’s race to ensure the safety of all runners. The finish is a massive open space to ensure a safe distance between the runners both before and after the race, also separating the mass element from the elite race.
There are concerns in Lagos that the persistent extremely hot and humid weather could impact the outcome of the race as the runners’ body generates heat and the ability of that increased heat to escape from their body is reduced in higher temperatures, and severely curtailed in humid conditions.
The high humid and hot weather meant conditions were challenging, as it drastically reduces sweat evaporation from their skin, which is the main primary mechanism their body has to stay cool, leading to some interesting races.
In the women’s 42km event, Herpa Guta put on a spectacular show of dominant form and strength to cross the finish line in 2:40:42 and win the Lagos Marathon for the second time, becoming the second women to achieve such a feat.
With the win, Herpa also became the first runner – men and women – to finish in the top two at the Lagos Marathon four times after winning the race in 2018 and runners-up in 2019 and 2022.
Kebene Chala crossed the finish line in 2:40:45 for an Ethiopian 1-2 finish.
The 2022 Marathon COMAR de Tunis Carthage champion, Chala, attempted to overtake Herpa for most part of the race, resulting in Herpa winning the race with the tightest finishing time in the event’s eight years history with just three seconds separating them.
Naomi Jepkosgei Maiyo, the 2018 Casablanca Marathon champion, finished third in 2:40:57.
“I’m happy because they invited me to this race and I am happy for winning third position,” Naomi Maiyo said. Asked in the post-event press conference about her plans to take part in future Lagos City Marathon, she replied: “I will be here if they invite me next year.”
The men’s 42km race, on the other hand, seemed to usher in a new long-distance runner.
Course record holder and 2020 champion, David Barmasai, returned to Lagos to lead the organiser’s platinum challenge. After being ahead of the pack for over half of the race, Barmasai succumb the lead to first-time participant, Edwin Kibet Koech.
Koech surprised his competitors with a well-calculated move in the last quarter of the race after overtaking Barmasai and continued to create a gap at the front, he rapidly extended his lead without looking back until he crossed the finish line at Eko Atlantic City in 2:14:06.
He was able to win despite the unfavourable weather condition; the humidity was calculated at 71% at the start of the race, but rose to 96% at an hour interval.
“The course is very tough and the humid is very high, it is not like Kenya,” Kibet said. “In Kenya it is very sunny now but there is no humid. This course is like Kenya, but the humid here is very high.”
“I tried to run my best not to beat the time, just to finish and maybe to win the race. I feel very good and very well, maybe next year they can call me and come back again.”
2022 Beirut Marathon champion, Mitku Tafa followed him to take second place in 2:14:54, while Bernard Sang, who had finished ninth at the fifth edition of the Lagos City Marathon in 2020, finished third in 2:17:14, 3:56 slower than his personal course record in 2020.
The winner of the men’s indigenous race was also a newly crowned national champion.
Gyang Boyi Nyango won with 2:27:15 after finishing as the first Nigerian to breast the finish line tape. Adamu Shehu Muazu and Friday Yohanna finished second and third in 2:30:52 and 2:33:02 respectively.
Muazu has dominated the Nigerian scene in recent years, winning the 2019 Nigerian Championships 10,000 meters, 2022 MASA Isonyin Half Marathon, 2018, 2021, and 2022 National Anti-Corruption Half Marathon.
Speaking with Made In Africa Sport moment after the event, the Plateau State-born athlete said his ultimate goal is to achieve greater feats and go toe-to-toe with elite Kenyan athletes in future marathon races.
“For me to come first as Nigerian is normal but what I intend is to come first three or first 10, since the competition is first 10 internationals,” Shehu Muazu said. “I want to rub shoulders with international athletes.”
“My goal is to see someone that will sponsor me to train with these first-class runners in Kenya so that we will rub shoulders to get some experience.”
Muazu also told Made In Africa Sport that the only way to curb Kenyans and Ethiopians from carting all prizes away in Lagos every year is for the government, administrators and stakeholders to engage Nigerian athletes more in training.
With 13 international women athletes already crossing the finish line in the women’s cadre, Deborah Pam joined the rest of the field when she raced to the sound of loud cheering along the course, as local fans celebrated their golden girl displaying yet another great run on home soil.
For the third time in five years, Pam became the first Nigerian to finish the 42km women’s race when she crossed the finish line in 2:49:33 to win N3 million; while Elizabeth Nuhu Power came second in 3:00:20 to win N2 million and Blessing Shambor Solomon also got on the medals table, finishing third in a time of 3:02:12 to win the third prize of N1 million.
In another successful event, thousands of local fans turned up to watch road running stars in action and meet some legendary runners. They were also able to share dances and music among themselves with performances from hip-hop stars, as has been the tradition of the event since inception in 2016.
Road To Platinum
A record 238 road races are included in the 2023 World Athletics Label Road Race calendar, with the Lagos City Marathon being among the 38 global Gold Label races for the year and the only Marathon in Nigeria with such label after the World Athletics updated the list of certified road races in January.
By the certification, all performances achieved at this race will be eligible for top lists of performances, entry standards for major championships and Olympic Games, world rankings and world records.
According to the World Athletics, all Gold Label marathon must have minimum prize money of $30,000 per gender and must also have at the start at least five athletes per gender with ‘Gold Status’, i.e. some of the top-ranked athletes in the sport.
In line with this directive, the Lagos City Marathon returned to its pre-covid prize money of $50,000 for winners of both men and women’s 42km elite category while 76 foreign elite runners were invited from Europe, East Africa, North Africa, West Africa, Asia and South America by the organisers as a sine qua non to attain Platinum Label race status.
Athletes will be going home with a whooping N194,600,000 at the @lagosmarathon.
N170,200,000 ($370k) for Men and Women's 42km Elite
N14,000,000 for Nigerian Men and Women's 42km
N5,900,000 for Nigerian Men and Women's 10km
N4,500,000 for Men and Women in wheelchair category. pic.twitter.com/iLugO9akyp
— Africa Sport Analytics (@MIASAnalytics) February 4, 2023
While this outstripped the requirements of a Gold Label Marathon, it fell short of World Athletics’ touchstones for Platinum Label as they expected at least two male athletes to finish the marathon under 2 hours 10 minutes while three female athletes finish under 2 hours 12 minutes.
In the World Athletics’ Label Road Races Regulations published in July 2022, race organisers wishing to apply for a Platinum Label must also meet the following criteria:
- Be awarded a Gold Label.
- Be among the Top 15 competitions ranked by participation score.
- Have at the start of their 2023 race edition at least three athletes per gender with Platinum Status, plus at least four athletes per gender with Gold Status (or higher).
- Gold Label races that failed to meet the conditions of the minimum required number of elite athletes can indemnify with a payment of $100,000 for the “Solidarity Fund for Elite Distance Runners” separate to the Gold Label fee of $20,000.
Top Facts and Statistics
- This is Ethiopia’s sixth win in the women’s 42km at the Lagos City Marathon in eight years. With their fellow East African rivals, Kenya winning the other two events.
- It is also Almenesh Herpa’s second win in Lagos, equalling Meseret Dinke and Abraham Kiptum for most wins (2) in men’s and women’s 42km category.
- There are five nationalities in the Top 100 fastest finishes at the Lagos City Marathon. Kenyan runners topped the list with 70 while their closest counterpart, Ethiopians, have 26. The remaining four spots are occupied by Kenya-born Spanish runner, Michael Kiprotich Mata, Kenya-born French runner, Abraham Kiprotich, Mohamed El Talhaoui of Morocco and Nigeria’s Emmanuel Gyang Gwom, who occupies the 100th position.
- Kenyans have also finished in the Top 10 of the Lagos City Marathon 56 times, with Ethiopians finishing 22 times. France and Morocco are the other two countries with a single Top 10 finish. No Nigerian runner has finished in the Top 10 in the race’s history. The host’s best finish came in 2021 when Istifanus Peter Mahan finished 13th.
- While no Nigerian male runners have never made the Top 10, four females have achieved the feat since 2017 with Deborah Pam finishing 6th in 2019 while Haruna Nana Hawawu, Elizabeth Nuhu Power, and Jenet Dung finished 8th, 9th, and 10th respectively in 2021.
- Sixty-one men’s athletes have finished in Top 10 of the Lagos City Marathon in eight years, 11 of those athletes finished in Top 10 twice while Ulfata Deresa Geleta (Ethiopia), Sintayehu Legese (Ethiopia), David Barmasai Tumo (Kenya), and Emmanuel Naibei (Kenya) are the only four athletes to finish in Top 10 three times.
NB: All Statistics are from Made In Africa Sport database
