Kenenisa Bekele retains title in Dublin
Despite gusting winds reaching 50mph in Dublin on Sunday (14), legendary Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele produced an awesome performance to comfortably defend his title at the SPAR Great Ireland Run, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race.
On a day that did not favour fast times, the multiple World record-holder confidently coped with the conditions to win the 10km race in 28:51, well clear of Ukrainian Sergey Lebid (29:08) and World 10,000m champion Ibrahim Jeilan (29:18).
Lauren Howarth, better known for her performances over shorter distances, claimed the women’s crown in a much closer contest to defeat her fellow Britons in 33:36, with defending champion Gemma Steel finishing 13 seconds behind (33:49) and double Olympic finalist Julia Bleasdale in third (33:53).
Bekele maintains undefeated record in Ireland
Bekele has never been beaten on Irish soil. He won the long and short course titles at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in 2002, and last year set an Irish all-comers’ record of 27:49 at the Great Ireland Run. Read more
