East Africans dominate Belfast Marathon

There were no surprises at the Deep RiveRock Belfast City Marathon yesterday as the East Africans dominated proceedings, Freddy Kerron Sittuk winning the men’s race in 2:18:30 and Bayrush Shiferaw claiming the women’s title in 2:41:20 despite being late for the start.

Sittuk, from Kenya, makes regular visits to Ireland and bases himself in Dublin and often trains with Raheny Shamrock AC. He finished over three minutes clear of last year’s winner Joel Kipsang (2:21:40) with Hilary Kipsang in third to make it a Kenyan clean sweep.

In the women’s race Ethiopian Shiferaw cruised to victory despite missing the scheduled start by around a minute after a mix-up to finish 12 minutes ahead Scotland’s Shona Crombie-Hicks. Karen Alexander provided some local cheer as she dipped under 3 hours in 2:58 to get on the podium for third and first Northern Ireland athlete home. Joe McAlister was the first domestic man home in 2:33:09.

Over 19,000 runners took to the streets of Belfast.