Azmeraw Bekele and Muluhabt Tsega achieved an Ethiopian double victory at the 31st edition of the Hangzhou Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race on Sunday (5), breaking both course records in the process.
Running under cloudy and cool conditions, the first seven finishers in the women&rsquo;s race broke the course record of 2:31:21 set by Anne Cheptanui Bererwe of Kenya last year. Tsega enjoyed a comfortable solo lead in the final five kilometres and improved the record by more than three minutes to win with a personal best of 2:28:08.
It is the fourth race of the year for the 28-year-old Tsega. She clocked 2:30:38 to finish eighth in Osaka in January and finished fourth at the Warsaw Marathon in April with a 2:30:16 clocking. Last month she competed in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon but had to withdraw after 20 kilometres due to a stomach problem.
It is also the second marathon title for Tsega. She took the victory at 2014 Beirut Marathon in her marathon debut and set her previous PB of 2:29:12, which has since stood as the course record.
Tinbit Gidey, winner of 2016 Shenzhen Marathon, outraced fellow Ethiopian Tsehay Desalegn in the last kilometre to finish second seven seconds back, trimming 3:12 off her PB set last year when winning the Sanya Marathon title in 2:31:27.
The 26-year-old Desalegn also dipped under the 2:30 barrier for the first time of her career as she clocked 2:28:35 to take the third place, beating her former PB of 2:31:25 set when finishing fourth at the Prague Marathon in 2014.
Pre-race favorite Bekele lived up to expectations to win the men&rsquo;s title in 2:10:33, breaking the course record of 2:11:22 set by his countryman Bejigan Regasa Mndaye in 2016. It is the first time in the 31-year history of Hangzhou Marathon for both titles to be claimed by Ethiopians.
A leading group of nine runners paced the race to the 10-kilometre mark in 30:56 and 15 kilometres in 46:19. After a series of speed changes from different runners went in vain, the leaders covered the first 25 kilometes in 1:17:47 before the pack started to shrink.
Morocco&rsquo;s Mousaab Hadout was the first to drop out. Italy&rsquo;s Yassine Rachik and Ethiopia duo Hailemichael Mekonnen and Andualem Belay were next to drift back. After 35 kilometres only five men remained in the leading group.
After another four kilometers, Kenya&rsquo;s Samuel Theuri, who has stayed in the front line for most of the race, tried to pull away with only Bekele and Abdi Fufa of Ethiopia managing to keep up. The trio remained together until the last kilometre when Bekele seized the lead and never looked back before breaking the tape in style.
It was the second victory for Bekele in two months, following his 2:12:49 win in Taiyuan in September which was also his first title over the classic distance.
The 33-year-old Theuri finished second in 2:10:36, 1:40 shy of his career best set in Marrakech two years ago. Fufa took 41 seconds of his PB to finish third in 2:10:41.
Vincent Wu for the IAAF

Azmeraw Bekele and Muluhabt Tsega achieved an Ethiopian double victory at the 31st edition of the Hangzhou Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race on Sunday (5), breaking both course records in the process.

Tsega and Bekele break course records in Hangzhou

Ethiopia&rsquo;s Fikadu Girma and Mulahabt Tsega triumphed at the 2014 Banque du Liban Beirut Marathon, winning at the IAAF Bronze Label Road Race in 2:12:26 and 2:29:15 respectively on Sunday (9).Girma, in just his second marathon after finishing third in 2:09:34 at the Dusseldorf Marathon earlier this year, clocked the second-fastest winning time in the Beirut Marathon&rsquo;s 12-year history, while Tsega took more than two minutes off the former course record of 2:31:38, set by her compatriot Seada Kedir in 2011, in what will have been a highly satisfying debut over the classic distance, especially in the warm conditions.In the men&rsquo;s race, a three-man all-Ethiopian trio of Girma, Abdela Godana and Legese Adungna went through 20km in 1:01:53 with Morocco&rsquo;s Mohammed Blal&nbsp;and another Ethiopian Damte Taye just 20 metres in arrears, giving rise to hopes that the course record of 2:11:14, that had belonged to Ethiopia&rsquo;s Tariku Jufar since 2011, might fall.By 30km, passed in 1:33:17, with Girma and Godana running together at the front and Blal 24 seconds adrift of the leading pair, Jufar&rsquo;s mark was still in their sights.However, gradually the pace started to slacken although Godana did manage to pull away from his compatriot Girma, who was unwell between kilometres 32 and 33, and went through 35km in 1:49:09 with a 15-second lead over Girma.It soon became apparent that the possibility of the course record was starting to seriously ebb away and that both men were concentrating their own race rather than having a duel with the clock, as Girma gradually recovered from his stomach problem and reeled in his countryman at 38km, before decisively pulling away from him.Godana hung on to finish second in 2:13:28 while Adungna, who went through a bad patch between 28 and 30 kilometres, came through strongly in the final 10km to finish third in 2:17:31.Tsega makes impressive marathon debut&nbsp; In the women&rsquo;s race, Ethopia's pre-race favourite Zemzem Ahmed dropped out at about 10km but four women &ndash; Tsega, Kenya&rsquo;s Monica Jepkoech, two-time former winner Kedir and a third Ethiopian Makida Abdela &ndash; went through 20km together in 1:11:11.From 25km onwards, Tsega and Koech started to put daylight between themselves and the other two. They were still together at 30km, reached in 1:46:30, but after 34km Tsega started to drop her Kenyan rival. The Ethiopian passed 35km in 2:04:00, 18 seconds ahead of Jepkoech, and just continued to increase her lead over the final kilometres. Jepkoech eventually finished second in 2:30:53. Although more than a minute behind the winner, she was also inside the old course record and took more than two minutes off her personal best. Kedir, after winning in 2011 and 2012, had to settle for third on this occasion in 2:34:24.As a guest of honour, Ethiopian distance-running legend and former marathon world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie was the official race starter. Organisers estimated there were approximately 37,500 participants&nbsp;in the marathon and a variety other races staged on Sunday, with runners from 94 different countries having registered.Phil Minshull and organisers for the IAAF

Ethiopia’s Fikadu Girma and Mulahabt Tsega triumphed at the 2014 Beirut Marathon, winning at the IAAF Bronze Label Road Race in 2:12:26 and 2:29:15 respectively on Sunday (9).