Stella Barsosio and Felix Kiprotich won the Sydney marathon title with course records.
In women’s race, Barsosio, the former world 10,000m champion cut the tape in 2:24.33 with a course record ahead of Josephin Chepkoech (2:26.43) and Tejitu Daba (2:28.22) leading Kenyans in 1-2 finish podium.
Having her personal best of 2:23.00 set in Rotterdam in April, Barsosio had to overcome accident woes that happened in May in Nandi County while training with her husband Edwin Cheruiyot as well as training mates Hillary Bett and Amos Bomori.
After winning the race, Barsosio said it was good that she forgot what happened in the past and recoeverd well for the title.
“It was a good day for me, winning a marathon. I wanted to improve on my time but am lucky to set the course record. I ran a good race on a hard course,” said Barsosio.
She added that she recovered very fast from the ordeal and made use of her training tactics to claim the title that was congested with big names.
“I had a good training that bore fruits on a hard course. My focus is to run better time in future,” added the 26 year old.
It was also a course record for men as Felix Kiprotich won the men’s title in 2:09.49.