Ninth Eco-friendly marathon |29 February 2016

Olivia Peytour, Moses Mbugua take victories

It was hard according to all those who took part and this reflected in the slow times they clocked in yesterday’s ninth Eco-friendly marathon compared to past years.

Victory went to Frenchwoman Olivia Peytour and Kenyan Moses Mbugua and they were both competing in the marathon for the second time.

Peytour clocked 4 hours 03 seconds (4h00:03) to win the women’s race and succeed Finnish Mari Kauri, and later described it as “a very tough win”.

“I am happy I won, but it was very tough. This is the second time I take part after my debut in 2014 when I was ranked second. In 2014, the race course was a surprise for me as I did not know what to expect, but this time I knew very well what to expect but still I encountered difficulties along the way,” Peytour told Sports Nation.

She added that although it was not too hot in Beau Vallon, it was not the case in Victoria where the runners had to make a U-turn and return to Beau Vallon to reach the finish line.

Peytour, 29 and who normally takes part in triathlon events in France, clocked 3h54:37 in 2014 to finish second behind Swedish Anneli Sōdergårds who won in 3h48:30.

Second in yesterday’s race was Polish Monika Mrucata in 4h31:46 and third place went to American Elizabeth Hall in 5h12:45.

Seychellois female runners Florise Ernesta was fifth in 5h36:02 and Maggie Harray seventh in 6h17:34.

The women’s record holder is Seychellois Simone Jaffa with a time of 3h30:19 in 2009. In fact, Jaffa won the race for three consecutive years – 2009 (3h30:19), 2010 (3h37:31) and 2011 (3h39:10).

Like Peytour, Kenyan Moses Mbugua was also taking part in the marathon for the second time and he stopped the clock at 3h31:18, some 22 minutes slower than the time of 3h08:48 registered last year when he was ranked third behind compatriots Shadrack Tanui (2h38:22) and Paul Kibet Simbolei (2h45:25).

“It was tough. The first leg was alright but I suffered on the return leg. I got cramps in my legs and had to slow down my pace,” said Mbugua.

The 27-year-old who works here has said he will return to Nairobi at the end of his contract in September and train at the Nyuhururu training centre to be ready for the next marathon in February 2017.

Mbugua became the second foreigner after Tanui (2h38:22) and fourth winner of the marathon after Seychellois Simon Labiche 2h41:25 (in 2008), 2h37:38 (in 2009), 2h44:09 (in 2010), 2h46:3 (2011), 3h02:02 (2013) and 3h03:15 (in 2014) and James Barra 3h06:49 (in 2012).

Second place went to Chinese Wu Weiqing (3h57:12), third was Slovak Michal Zvrskovec (4h18:32) and fourth place went to Seychellois Christopher Cadeau (4h42:12). Two other Seychellois runners completed the 42-kilometre race and they are Kench Benjamin who finished 17th in 5h42:38 and Erol Ally who was 18th in 5h43:24.

Runners of 56 different nationalities took part in yesterday’s event which has become a mainstay event on the country’s calendar of events and is one which locals and foreigners alike look forward to, year after year.

Other than the marathon, there were also half-marathon (21km), 10km and 5km races.

G. G.