Ngira Nyaga took two hours, 22 minutes and 32 seconds to complete the 42.195-km distance, while compatriots Makau Nzioka (2::25:26) and Sua Mutisya (Kenya, 2::31:25) finished second and third respectively. Fantaw Hussen (Ethiopia, 2::32:04) finished fourth, while India’s Munna Mahli (2::35:39) finished fifth and Etiopia’s Kasahun Gebree Gziabher (2::47:0) sixth and last within the prize money bracket.

The Indians fared better in the half marathon with Surender Singh taking the top spot in the men’s section in a time of 1::04:5. Habteselassie Lemma Gemechu (Ethiopia, 1::04:6) and Santosh Kumar (India, 1::05:2) finished second and third respectively.

In the women’s half marathon, Kenya’s Agnes (1::11:3) and Pauline (1::12:1) took the first two spots, while Indians Kavitha Raut (1::14:1) and Preethi L Rao (1::18:5) finished third and fourth respectively.

In the full marathon, one has to give it to the Kenyans. Their pace was unbelievable from the word go. With just about three kilometres into the race, Nyaga, Nzioka, Mutisya, Hussen and Gziabher took a handsome lead. The lead was easily over a kilometre between the leaders and the rest of the pack. The lead pack increased the lead steadily.

The race headed out of the city but the bunch remained together with each of them pulling ahead a few steps and the others catching up. With about 16-km gone (near Kalyan Nagar), Hussen began to fall back, and steadily too. By the 21-km mark and just before the turning point from where the runners were to head back, it was just four of them with Hussen about a kilometre behind. Just after the turn near the Nagavara Kere, Mahli, a native of Jharkhand but with the Madras Engineers Group here, was about three kilometres behind the front-runners.

With 23-km covered, Gziabher began to trail behind the other three Kenyans. It was after the 28-km that the lead trio separated with Nyaga taking sole lead and Nzioka and Mutisya being in second and third places respectively. The order remained the same but there was more shuffling at the back towards the fag end of the race. Hussen had clawed his way back and was running fourth, while Mahli pushed hard in the finishing stages to get past Gziabher.

However, for leader Nyaga, there was absolutely no trouble as he made his way back to the finishing point at the Sree Kanteerava stadium to pocket the winner’s cheque of $5,000. Nzioka and Mutisya took back $2,250 and $1,750 respectively. The first three places in the men’s and women’s marathon events received $2000, 1500 and 1000 respectively. “The route was not very even but it was quite a good one to run on,” said the 31-year-old Nyaga. This was the first international win for the resident of Nairobi. He had won a marathon in Mombasa earlier this year.

Second-placed Nzioka said: “There was a lot of wind and the route was pretty crowded. That slowed us down a little bit.”

India’s Mahli, who had finished 16th here last year, was pleased with the improvement of finishing fifth. “I would like to clock a far better timing.”

Results:

Full marathon (men only): Ngira Nyaga (Kenya, 2::22:32 hours) 1; Makau Nzioka (Kenya, 2::25:26) 2; Sua Mutisya (Kenya, 2::31:25) 3; Fantaw Hussen (Ethiopia, 2::32:04) 4; Munna Mahli (India, 2::35:39) 5; Kasahun Gebree Gziabher (Ethiopia, 2::47:0) 6.

Half marathon: Men: Surender Singh (India, 1::04:5) 1; Habteselassie Lemma Gemechu (Ethiopia, 1::04:6) 2; Santosh Kumar (India, 1::05:2) 3; Berhanu Meleyo Kassa (Ethiopia, 1::05:4) 4; Soji Mathew (India, 1::05:5) 5; Zenebe Kasaw Kebret (Ethiopia, 1::06:5) 6.

Women: Agnes (Kenya, 1::11:3) 1; Pauline (Kenya, 1::12:1) 2; Kavitha Raut (India, 1::14:1) 3; Preethi L Rao (India, 1::18:5) 4; Vaishali Chatare (India, 1::22:5) 5; K Maheshwari (India, 1::30:5) 6.

Senior citizens: Men: Bala Subramania 1; KL Patil 2. Women: Sudha 1; Prabhavathi 2; Parvathy 3. Wheelchair: T Seetaram 1; HT Krishna Reddy 2; H Nagaraj 3; Malathi Holla 4.