The Cape Town Marathon set a new record for the fastest 42.2km on African soil, with Huseydin Mohamed Esa (pictured) winning $55,000 including a new race record bonus and Dera Dida Yami leading the women’s race, both receiving equal prize money as their male counterparts. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/Independent Media
Image: Ayanda Ndamane/ Independent Media
The Cape Town Marathon held on Sunday was a roaring success by all accounts, as it was the fastest-ever 42.2km race held on African soil.
Not only did Huseydin Mohamed Esa (2:04:55) win the title in an exciting finish by four seconds over Yihunilign Adane (2:04:59), both Ethiopians managed a sub-2:05 time. Esa also earned a massive bonus for setting a new race record to take his total earnings for the day to $55,000/R899,210.
In fact, the top six times were all faster than the previous quickest time on African soil, which was 2:06:32. Meanwhile, marathon legend widely considered the Greatest of All Time Eliud Kipchoge finished 16th in 2:13:29.
In the women’s race, Dera Dida Yami took the title in 2:23:18, followed by Mestawut Fikir in 2:23:46 and Waganesh Amare completing the all-Ethiopian podium in 2:23:57. As is standard practice, the women’s finishers receive the same prize money as the men.
Here are the top-10 finishers (prizemoney in brackets, rand amounts based on exchange rate as of Monday):