Eritrea\u2019s Habtom Samuel broke the course record at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, winning the World Athletics Gold Label road race in 59:01. It was all the more remarkable, considering it was his international debut at the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Less than five months after winning the Diamond League 3000m title, Ethiopia\u2019s Fantaye Belayneh showed her versatility by winning the women\u2019s race with a huge PB of 1:04:49.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A large lead pack went through 5km in 14:13 in the men\u2019s race, and 13 men were still together at 10km, which was reached in 28:17. Samuel still had nine other men for company at 15km, reached in 42:20, with Kenya\u2019s Patrick Kiprop and Morocco\u2019s Mohammed El Youssfi pushing the pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Approaching the 10-mile point, Kiprop tried to make a break, but it was relatively short lived and he was reeled in by Samuel, El Youssfi and USA\u2019s Isai Rodriguez. With little more than a kilometre to go, Samuel had carved out a lead, which he managed to maintain until the finish, crossing the line in 59:01 to become the first Eritrean winner in Houston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kiprop held on for second place in 59:14, ahead of El Youssfi (59:21) and USA\u2019s Alex Maier (59:23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the women\u2019s race, Belayneh ran alongside fellow Ethiopians Tsigie Gebreselama and Buze Diriba through 5km (15:12). Diriba drifted off the swift pace, but Belayneh and Gebreselama maintained it through 10km, reached in 30:35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They continued to run shoulder-to-shoulder through 15km (45:58) and 20km (1:01:33). It was only in the closing stages that Belayneh, the African 5000m champion, managed to pull clear, crossing the line in 1:04:49 to take more than two minutes off her PB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gebreselama was second in 1:04:52 and Diriba held on to third place in 1:05:57 ahead of USA\u2019s Taylor Roe (1:06:20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Chevron Houston Marathon \u2013 also a World Athletics Gold Label road race \u2013 USA\u2019s Zouhair Talbi (2:05:45) and Britain\u2019s Calli Hauger-Thackery (2:24:17) took top honours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Talbi was part of a seven-man group to go through half way in 1:03:04, but he picked up the pace and dropped his remaining opponents in the second half to win in a PB of 2:05:45.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hauger-Thackery, who had won the Honolulu Marathon just four weeks prior, ran with Janet Ruguru through 10km (33:23) and the half-way point (1:11:15) before the Kenyan\u2019s challenge faded in the second half. The Briton went on to win in 2:24:17, finishing more than two minutes ahead of USA\u2019s 42-year-old Sara Hall (2:26:26).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eritrea\u2019s Habtom Samuel broke the course record at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, winning the World Athletics Gold<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[50,318],"class_list":["post-7905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-athletics","tag-half-marathon"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t