International Paris Semi-Marathon
A time of 1h01min05’’ for Kenyan winner Stephen KIBIWOT
The Château de Vincennes Esplanade was extremely lively this morning for the start of the 16th edition of the International Paris Semi-Marathon. At 10:00 AM, Madame Michèle Blumenthal, mayor of the XIIth arrondissement of Paris and Monsieur Joël Lainé, event director launched off the runners for this new edition from the Avenue Daumesnil.
Close to 20 000 runners of the 24 000 registered were bunched together for the 21,097 kilometre course through the streets of Eastern Paris.
The Elite competitors were keen to take on the challenge by taking off at a fairly fast pace straight from the start. The front group including the traditional Kenyan armada led by young Wilson Chebet offered a fast and consistent race.
At the third kilometre, covered in 8’40’’, the pace was still set by Wilson Chebet who led the bunched pack alongside Jackson Kirwa.
At Km 10, covered in 28’58’’, the pace remained fast for a leading group of eight runners including Wilson Chebet, John Kales, Jackson Kirwa, Jacob Yator, Stephen Kibiwot ...
The wind started making the race very tactical and the attacks failed to be decisive. The group remained together all the way to the 19th kilometre mark.
It was in the last kilometre that the podium places were to be decided with Kenyan Stephen Kibiwot clocking the winning time (1h01’05’’), ahead of Ethiopia’s Gudisa Shentema (1h01’10’’). Another Kenyan, Jacob Yator managed to clinch third spot in a time of 1h01’10’’. The first French runner James Theuri, dropped by the leading group when the pace eased up at kilometre 12, finished the race in an excellent time of 1h03’15’’.
The women’s race saw a group shape up early and remain bunched all the way to the halfway mark. It was then through several attacks that Lena Cheruiyot managed to break away and capture victory in a time of 1h09’46’’, very close to the event’s record set by Romania’s Alina Tecuta last year: 1h09’37’’. She was followed by race favourite Jelena Prokopcuka in 1h10’02. Third spot went to Genet Getaneh in 1h10’42’’.
Like every year the International Paris Semi-Marathon was a great opportunity for the participants but also the spectators to witness the city of Paris in a different way through a lively morning thanks to 25 musical animations all along the course.
The first French Semi-Marathon in terms of appearance and a reference race for all the runners behind the Paris Marathon, this 16th edition of the Semi-Marathon was a perfect preparation before the big meeting on the 6th of April at the Champs-Elysées, for the 32nd edition of the Paris Marathon.
 02/03/2008 - Press release, download (.pdf, 83 Ko, 1 page)
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