More than 14,300 runners in the 2013 Barcelona Half Marathon
The Barcelona Half Marathon took place on Sunday in the Catalan capital. At exactly 8.45 am the first group started out on its 21km run followed by two other groups, five and ten minutes later. Only one hour and four seconds later the first runner reached the finish line: Eliud Kipchoge, from Kenya. With a time of 1 hour, 7 minutes and 32 seconds, the first woman passed the finish line, Atsede Baysa, from Ethiopia. The 14,325 participants registered for the 2013 run set a new record in the race’s history.
Barcelona (CNA).- On Sunday morning the Half Marathon took place on the streets of Barcelona as 14,325 participants accepted the challenge of the 21 kilometre run. Three different groups at intervals of five minutes started out at 8.45 am. Just one hour and four seconds later the first runner came home: the winner this year was Kenyan long-distance expert and world champion, Eliud Kipchoge. With a time of 1 hour, 7 minutes and 32 seconds, the first woman passed the finish line, Atsede Baysa, from Ethiopia.
On Sunday at half past eight in the morning the streets around the Arc de Triomf and Ciutadella Park in Barcelona were fully crowded with athletes ready to go. All of them were waiting excitedly for the starting gun of this year’s Half Marathon. A record number of 14,325 participants registered for the 2013 run. This turnout was the highest in the race’s history. This is an increase of 12.1% in comparison to last year’s edition when 12,778 participants started the race.
A quarter to nine in the morning the starting signal sounded and the first group of runners met the challenge of the 21 kilometre run around the streets of Barcelona. This group was followed by two others in intervals of five minutes. One hour and four seconds later the first runner crossed the finish line. The Kenyan runner and world champion Eliud Kipchoge was the winner of the Half Marathon in 2013, followed by Joseph Kimeli Lagat (also from Kenya), with a time of one hour, one minute and 27 seconds and the Spanish marathon runner Marc Roig Tió in third place with a time of one hour five minutes and six seconds. Only seven minutes and 28 seconds after Kipchoge came home, the first woman crossed the finishing line. Atsede Baysa set a time of 1:07:32 and as well as being the winner of the women’s race, she also came seventh place on aggregate. Baysa is an Ethiopian marathon runner, who had already won several races like the Istanbul marathon in 2007 or the Paris marathon in 2008. Kipchoge as well as Baysa set new record times in Barcelona.
The atmosphere during the whole race was amazing. Throughout the course local people roared on the runners by clapping, acclamations and constant cheers. In this way, more than 14,000 marathon runners found support until they reached the finish-line of the Half Marathon in Barcelona in 2013.