/ 24 August 1998

Kenyans make clean sweep

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 10.45am.

KENYAN athlete Simon Biwott won the men’s division of the 16th annual Mexico City International Marathon Sunday with a finishing time of 2 hours, 16 minutes, 45 seconds.

Biwott ran the fourth-best finish in the race’s history and finished 28 seconds ahead of Mexican Francisco Bautista. Mexico’s Luis Reyes was third in the pack of an estimated 7000 runners with a time of 2:17:38.

Mexican Maria Elena Reyna won the women’s race in a time of 2:42:55, beating four-time Mexican winner Maria del Carmen Diaz by one minute, 13 seconds.

Kenya’s Salina Chir Chir took third place in the 500-strong field of women’s runners.

Meanwhile, Kenyans John Gwaco and James Bungei took first and second place in the 21-km Rio half-marathon.

Gwaco won in a time of 1:01:49, while Bungei finished in a time of 1:01:55. Another Kenyan, Dellilah Asiago, placed second in the women’s race with a time of 1:12:52.