Ethiopian Athletes victorious in Minneapolis & Kosice Marathons

Bezunesh Deba and Almaz Alemu Balcha of Ethiopia scored victories in women’s marathons in Minneapolis (USA) and Kosice (Slovakia) respectively today. 

Bezunesh, 23,  who lives and trains in New York City, won the 29th Annual Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis in 2:27.24, eight minutes clear of second-place finisher Sveltana Ponomarenko of Russia. Serkalem Abraha of Ethiopia came in third in 2:36.16. 

The win helped Bezunesh to become the the first woman to win both Twin Cities Marathon and Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth in the same year.

Meanwhile, Almaz Alemu Balcha won the 87th edition of the Kosice International Peace Marathon (Slovakia) in a slow time of 2:36.35. Almaz, who was running her fifth marathon, started well clocking 1:13:56 for the first half, but failed to keep the same pace for the full course. 

Almaz received 6,000 Euros for her victory.