Choice Women First 5km: Senbere Teferi defends her title

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Senbere Teferi easily defended her “Choice Women First 5 km” title here on Sunday, March 10.

This year marked the 10th edition of the race.

Teferi led the race from the first kilometer and finished first in 15:55, and thus lowering her time from last year’s competition by 7 seconds. Meanwhile, 24-year-old Selam Abere came in second (16.02), followed by 2012 Coca-cola Race Series winner Tsegereda Girma (16:06) in third.

The course record is held by Rehima Kedir, who won the 2006 race in 15:43.

The race, which was started in 2004 to recognize the achievements of Ethiopia’s great female athletes at the Athens Olympic and to support the broader changes regarding the role of women in Ethiopia’s economic and social life, has become an annual carnival for women.

Olympic medalists Mesert Defar and Gete Wami started the race alongside Haile Gebrselassie. Artist Chachi Tadesse led the short warm up session for participants a few minutes before the race started. Mulu Solomon, President of Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectarian Associations, spoke on the occasion calling on women to unite to end suppression and violence against women.

To encourage participants, music was played every kilometre and a majority of participants stop to dance or hold their breath and watch others dance. A total of 7,600 participants finished the race and received medals.

Ambassadors’ Competition

In the female ambassadors’ competition, Ambassador of Austria Graf Gudrun finished the race in 29:56 while Ambassador of Israel Belaynesh Zevadia finished in 48:34. Other participants from the diplomatic community who took part in the race included Botswana’s Deputy Ambassador Benetia Chingapane (25:20), Erica Usher, the wife of the Canadian Ambassador (37:25), US Ambassador’s wife Anita Booth (42:44) and Ireland Ambassador’s wife Isabella O’Hara.

The race publicizes important women issues. Family planning with “Choice” takes a centre stage as Dkt Ethiopia has been the title sponsor since the inception of the event.  The race message this year is “Empower women to make a difference”.

It won’t be long before we see Senbere Teferi in international competitions representing Ethiopia. Many of the previous race winners have gone on to establish success careers for themselves. Here are just two examples: 2006 race winner Asselefech Mergia received $250,000 for winning the 2012 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, while Tiki Gelana, who was a runner-up last year, became an Olympic gold medalist at the London Games.

The top three winners collected 10,000 birr, 7,000 birr and 4,000 birr respectively. The top ten athletes also received cash prizes. Best costume design prizes was awarded to participants who designed the race’s t-shirt. Spot prizes were given for random participants for taking part on the event.

Results

Source: Ethiopianrun.org