Ethiopian duo halts Kenyan monopoly in World 10K

<g data-gr-id="32">Mosinet</g> Geremew and Mamitu Daska clinched the men's and women's title respectively as Ethiopian runners overwhelmed traditional powerhouse Kenya in the eighth TCS World 10K here on Sunday.

<g data-gr-id="28">Mosinet</g> went on to win the race in <g data-gr-id="27">28:16sec,</g> while <g data-gr-id="29">Daska</g> clocked 31:57sec.

Former 10K world record-holder and Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Micah Kipkemboi <g data-gr-id="33">Kogo</g> (Kenya) was among the nine men who led the bunch. After the pacemakers left the group in 4km, four runners started to move forward. Among the Indians, Suresh Kumar, on his third appearance here, eclipsed the course record for the local runners by clocking 29 minutes 49 seconds. The former Asian junior champion over 10,000m received a course record bonus of Rs 200,000 over and above his winning purse Rs 250,000.

Tamil Nadu's Suriya Loganathan, double gold-medallist in the recent edition of Federation Cup at Mangaluru, won the title in Indian women's category with a time of 35:58sec.

<g data-gr-id="36">Kogo</g>, whose 2009 record of 27:01 still ranked him second in the all-time lists, managed to lead the group until 8km with compatriot Edwin Kiptoo taking <g data-gr-id="34">over over</g> in between briefly. While the runners were still in Cubbon Park, the two Ethiopians increased their pace and moved ahead. <g data-gr-id="37">Mosinet</g>, winner of Hyderabad 10K three years ago with a record 27:36 for that distance, was trying to clock another sub-28 minutes.

However, it was too late for him to try that on Sunday as the Ethiopians could not utilise the pace set by Kenyan Edwin on earlier stages.

<g data-gr-id="31">Mosinet</g> went on to win the race in 28:16sec with teammate Fikadu just two seconds behind for the second place. Edwin (28:20sec) and Kogo (28:29sec) finished on next two spots.

Although his time was the slowest in the men's race in the race's history, <g data-gr-id="30">Mosinet</g> <g data-gr-id="26">become</g> the second Ethiopian to win here after Deriba Merga in 2009.