Berga Birhanu Bekele overpowers field at 28th Florence Marathon - Athletics news
Berga Birhanu Bekele claimed victory at the 28th Florence Marathon event in a decent time of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 52 seconds, in Florence, Italy, on November 27, 2011. A sunny day with a temperature of 6°C, turned out to be ideal conditions
for the race.
The Men’s race started and the lead pack went through 5km in 15 minutes and 28 seconds. The pack then approached with consistent pace and went through the 10km mark in a time of 31 minutes and 4 seconds.
The eight-man pack comprised of Zembaba Yemanu from Ethiopia, Berga Bekele, Medhane Tekie from Eritrea, Hailu Gela Seifu from Ethiopia, Ronald Rutto from Kenya, Joseph Ngeny from Kenya, Abram Kidane from Ethiopia and Abdelkabir Saji from Morocco.
Seven of the lead pack’s contenders, Tekie, Seifu, Bekele, Rutto, Kidane, Yemanu and Saji, remained in contention, as the 15km mark was reached in a time of 46 minutes and 4 seconds. The pack adhered to a fast pace, as they reached the 21km mark in a time
of 1 hour, 4 minutes and 38 seconds.
After crossing the 25km mark in 1 hour, 16 minutes and 49 seconds, the pace dropped with the 29 and 30km splits clocked in 3 minutes and 18 seconds, and 3 minutes and 17 seconds, respectively.
Bekele and Seifu throttled the pace and busted away from the rest of the frontline runners, at the 32km mark. The duo was able to carve out a significant gap of 21 seconds over Yemanu Zembaba, who led the chasing group at 35km.
At the 39 km mark, Bekele managed to deviate ahead from Seifu and cleared the final two kilometers in a split time of three minutes, 2 minutes and 54 seconds, and 2 minutes and 56 seconds, respectively.
Bekele crossed the finishing line in a well-attained time of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 52 seconds. He missed his personal best with a difference of 11 seconds. The Ethiopian runner put up a stunning show and mesmerised spectators with his effort in the respective
meet.
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