Kenyan runnuers Kiriu Kiprotich and Gladys Jepkurui Biwott won the men’s and women’s race respectively of the 12th Wizz Air Skopje Marathon, which took place on Sunday in the Macedonian capital.
Kiprotich completed the 42-kilometer race in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 36 seconds. The second and third place were won by Kenyan runner Richard Kiprono Bett (2:14:36) and Edwin Kirputo Kirwa (2:15:08).
Regarding the women’s race, Gladys Jepkurui Biwott finished the marathon in 2 hours, 40 munities and 10 seconds, with Ethiopia’s Shitaye Gemechu (2:45:30) and Tanzania’s Fabiola John Williams (2:49:13) coming in second and third respectively.
Of the Macedonian athletes taking part in the marathon, Aleksandar Kiradziev finished the men’s race seventh (2:45.57) and Vesna Kiradzieva completed the women’s race in 3:22.41, thus finishing seventh.
The 2016 Wizz Air Skopje Marathon featured a full marathon - 42km; half marathon - 21km; 5-km race and a relay marathon for the first time this year.
Over 8,000 runners from 46 countries competed this year in the marathon, held under the auspices of the City of Skopje and the Mission of the European Union.
The prize fund is estimated at EUR 17,100.
At the start of the marathon, 10 masked runners holding hands as one entity were part of the event as a visual symbol of the 5th UN global goal, i.e. gender equality. It is one of the 17 UN global goals for sustainable development that were adopted earlier in 2016.
“Long-distance running requires determination and perseverance. The same can be said for gender equality. The fight for equal rights between men and women is a marathon of historic proportions. Even though we have achieved a breakthrough as regards this goal, we have a long way to go to achieve it,” stated Louisa Vinton, UN Resident Coordinator in Macedonia.
