The event, which is the fifth stop on the inaugural 14-meet IAAF Diamond League Circuit, was held in Icahn Stadium on New York City’s Randall’s Island.

In the women’s 1,500m race, Meseret Defar ran a personal best time of 4:02.00 to finish second, followed by fellow compatriot Gelete Burka (4:03.35). Nancy Langat of Kenya won win in 4:01.60.

Results:

Women’s  1,500
2nd         Meseret Defar

Men’s 1,500
2nd        Deresse Mekonnen
4th         Demma Daba Bikila
10th       Markos Geneti

• Ethiopians Sweep 5000m Race at NY Grand Prix - Ezega.com
• In NYC, Ethiopian Women Finish 1-2-3 - TsehaiNY.com

Meanwhile, in the 5,000m Men Nordic, Arado Buta of Ethiopia finished first in a time of 13:58.50, with Ethiopian-born Daabayaa Badhaso running for Norway coming in third in 14:21.12.

The 21-years-old Merga finished 3^rd in the same event at the Doha Diamond Games. Tariku Bekele, younger brother of Kenenisa, came in second 0.16 seconds later.

Ethiopian-born Alemayehu Bezabeh, who now represents Spain, sets a national record when he finished seventh in 12:57.25.

Other notable runners include Bekana Daba of Ethiopia (9^th), Kenyan-born Saif Saaeed Shaheen  of Qatar (11^th) and Abera Kuma of Ethiopia (15^th) who sets a personal best. Unfortunately Markos Geneti didn’t finish the race.

Mekonnen Gebremedhin of Ethiopia run a personal best time of 3:49.83 to finish second in the Dream Mile right behind winner Asbel Kiprop of Kenya. Deresse Mekonnen finished sixth.

In the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, Sofia Assefa placed fifth in 9:23.45, season’s best time.

The 112-rooms resort, which seats on 7.5 acres of tropical beauty, is just a walk away from the beautiful Lake Awassa, and construction cost was financed by loans from Hibret Bank and Zemen Bank in Addis Ababa.

The resort comes with several amenities including a soothing waterfall, seven meeting halls and banquet rooms, free wireless internet access, a mini golf course, a spacious swimming pool, two tennis courts, a mini soccer field, a fitness centre, horse-back riding, and much more.

Haile told the newspaper that plans are underway to build eight private villas on the resort, and when the renovation of the nearby Awassa Airport is completed next year, his resort will be able to offer  flight service to and from Addis Ababa.

“It is pretty much a thrill of a lifetime for us to host Haile in the marathon,” Road Runners president Mary Wittenberg said in a statement. “We have looked forward to this day for literally years.”

This year’s marathon will be on November 7.

The 37-year-old Gebrselassie set the marathon world record of 2:03.59 in 2008 at Berlin.

“I know my long-time friend Tesfaye Jifar has the course record in New York and with all of us in the field I believe that we might be able to make it a race which can be remembered for a long time as a historical race,” Gebrselassie said.

The three compatriots talked among themselves before the race and decided to finish together if there were no Kenyan athletes in the final phase of the competition. 

After breaking free from two Kenyans in the third mile, the Ethiopians entered Folsom Field in unison to a huge roar from the crowd of 50,000. 

Expecting an all-out sprint to the finish, the crowd roared ever louder when it became apparent the Ethiopians instead would circle the track together and cross the tape as one. 

“We didn’t even try to race each other,” said Regassa, the 2009 champion. “We tried to go together.”

As race officials attempted to separate them just past the finish line into first, second and third place, the three runners adamantly refused to be sorted into any order. 

Nevertheless, the organizers listed Desisa as finishing first 0.03 seconds ahead of Regassa with a time of 29 minutes, 16.93 seconds and 0.15 seconds ahead of Tola. 

The victories also earned Desisa $3,750 for finishing first, Regassa $2,750 for securing second, Tola $2,250 for taking third, and they also received a $15,000 check to share for winning the International Team Challenge. But once again, the trio surprised everyone when they said that although they couldn’t officially share the win, they would share the $8,750 winnings, with each athlete taking a little over $2,916. 

After crossing the finish line, they gathered for a group hug with two-time champion Mamitu Daska and Amane Gobena, who had given Ethiopia a 1-2 finish in the women’s race minutes earlier. 

While all three athletes need to be commended for their unselfish behavior and great sportsmanship, Regassa, being the defending champion, deserved an extra pat on the back as he could have chosen to overrun Desisa and Tola and keep the glory for himself.

In the men’s race, Lelisa Desisa finished first in 29:16.93, with fellow compatriot and defending champion Tilahun Regassa coming second (29:16.96) and Tadese Tola, also of Ethiopia in third.

Ethiopia’s Mamitu Daska retained her title in the women’s race.

Hermens told Reuters that doctors in the Netherlands conducted a series of scans and examinations and concluded on Thursday that his injury was actually a rupture, which will require Kenenisa to take up to 2 months of rest. 

Hermens pointed out that Kenenisa, who will turn 28 in two weeks, will need lots of rest to nurse his injury, and that he prefers that he takes the rest of the year off, so that he can come back strong for the next season.

Hengelo, the Netherlands-

The match anticipated race between Meseret and world cross-country champion Florence Kiplagat of Kenya didn’t materialize as the latter came in a disappointing sixth. However, Kiplagat should take solace in the fact her time of 15:14.48 was her best performance in the category for the year. 

In the men’s 3,000m race, Ayele Abshiro finished 5^th with fellow Ethiopians Berhanu Delale and Aberra Kuma coming in 7^th and 11^th respectively.

Final Results:

Women’s 5,000m:

Men’s 3,000m:

Dire Tune was awarded an additional $5,000 for winning the gender competition prize for crossing the finish line ahead of her male counterparts. 

Women elite athletes started this IAAF Silver Label Road Race 10K 4 minutes and 7 seconds before the male elites, but in the past they were overtaken and beaten to the finish line.

Desisa won the men’s category with a time of 28:08, with fellow compatriot and defending champion Deriba Merga (28:41) and Dereje Tadesse (29:17) finishing third and fifth respectively.

Gebre-Egziabher finished in 27 minutes, 42 seconds in only his third pro road race. Peter Kamais  and Julius Kogo, both from Kenya finished second and third respectively.

Gebre-Egziabher received $7,500 for the victory and a $20,000 bonus for the course record.

In the women’s race, Buzunesh Deba of Ethiopia, who runs for the West Side Runners in New York, broke the tape in 33:09 and improved the women’s event record by 23 seconds.