Nibret Melak and Anchinalu Dessie produce thrilling times in Dubai’s jubilee marathon

Two world-class winning times crowned the 25th edition of the Dubai Marathon. Ethiopians Nibret Melak and Anchinalu Dessie clocked 2:04:00 and 2:18:31 respectively with both times now commanding world leads. Running his debut marathon Melak’s victory was even more remarkable. He continued a unique first timers’ win streak in Dubai. It was the sixth time in a row that Dubai’s men’s race was taken by a debutant from Ethiopia. In total and including the women the race has now seen eleven debutants winning on this super flat course.

In very good weather conditions on Sunday fellow-Ethiopian Yasin Haji followed in second with 2:05:52 while third placed John Hakizimana clocked a national record for Rwanda with 2:06:04. Anchinalu Dessie was a late entry to the Dubai Marathon but finished first in a huge personal best of 2:18:31. Fellow-Ethiopians Muliye Dekebo and Fantu Worku took second and third with 2:18:43 and 2:19:08 respectively. Melak and Dessie each receive a winners’ prize of 80,000 US Dollar.

Including events at shorter distances organisers of Dubai’s jubilee edition registered a total of 20,000 entries. 4,000 of them were competing in the marathon which is a record for the biggest and fastest race over the classic distance on the Arabian Peninsula.

After a fast and promising half marathon split time of 62:07 the decisive move came with around ten kilometres to go. 26-year-old Nibret Melak threw in a 2:52 kilometre split and with that pulled clear of his rivals. He continued to push the pace, and his advantage grew considerably in the final few kilometres. “I was very well prepared, and it was always my goal to win my debut, “ said Nibret Melak, who belongs to the same training group in Addis Ababa as Ethiopia’s Olympic Marathon Champion Tamirat Tola.

“My big goal in the future is to break the world record. “ In his debut race in Dubai he tied the third fastest time ever run on this course and missed the course record by only 26 seconds. Behind the finish line he was celebrating with second-placed Yasin Haji, who is a training partner.

The women’s race was very fast from early on. Guided by pacemakers the leading group passed the 10km point in 33:08 and then reached the halfway mark in 69:27. In the final section of the race Muliye Dekebo took the lead and looked the likely winner. However, drama unfolded with little over two kilometres to go. Dekebo suddenly suffered of stomach problems and Dessie passed her at the 40 k refreshment station and went on to celebrate her biggest career victory. „I thought I could still win it in the latter stages of the race. It is nice to run a PB, but I think I can even run faster in the future, “said the 23-year-old winner, who made it three marathon victories in three races. In her debut Dessie took the Seville Marathon a year ago with 2:22:17 and then won in Beijing in early November with 2:26:08. In Dubai she improved by almost four minutes and achieved the sixth fastest time ever run in the event.