East Africans dominate Durban International Marathon

Felix Kirui Kiprotich produced a sizzling performance to win the Durban International Marathon in 2:10:45 yesterday (Sunday 4 May). Kiprotich made a statement from the start with the designated pacemaker Tukiso Motlomelo failing to keep to the scheduled sub 2:09 pace, leading the Kenyan to take the lead at the 20km mark. In the end, Kiprotich was left unchallenged to win the fifth edition of the race as Zimbabweans Godwin Katakura and Blessing Waison finished second (2:11:02) and third (2:11:51) respectively. Kiprotich who ended a three year winless drought dating back to the 2022 Annecy Marathon in France, felt the course is good one for producing times. The 39-year-old said he was let down by the pacemakers on his mission to run fast. 

"It's good to win especially after struggling with some injuries. I thought I could break the course record (2:09:32) but the pacemaker wasn't feeling good. I spent too much time running alone and it wasn't easy. At 35km, I decided to maintain the pace because the chasing pack was trying to catch me.  Durban is fantastic, I believe this is a very good course. Next year, I think of coming back and with good peacemaker, it going to be easy to run 2:06, 2:07 here," said a satisfied Kiprotich.

Kiprotich believes that with better pacing, he could have broken the 2:09:32 course record set by Elroy Gelant in 2024. Photo Credit: Durban International Marathon.

Former South African Marathon Champion Tumelo Motlagale took fourth place in 2:12:42 and was the first local athletes to cross the finish line. In the women's race, Ethiopia's Emane Seifu Hayile ran 2:31:45 to win the race and claim the R75 000 winner’s cheque. Namibia's Alina Armas followed in 2:32:34, while Zimbabwe's Fortunate Chidzivo (2:33:30) rounded out the podium. 38-year-old Chidzivo who is a familiar face in the country's running community says clocking a new lifetime best feels good. 

"At first, I wanted to run under sub 2hours 30 minutes but I couldn't keep up with the pace. I’m actually thankful to God. It was my goal to run a personal best time today. The route was good. It just had a lot on my mind. I feel that I have a lot more to give and I'll come more prepared next year," said an emotional Chidzivo. 

The top three men at the 2025 Durban International Marathon. Photo Credit: Durban International Marathon.

Having delivered an incident free race which continues to produce good times, event organiser Steve Mkasi because the standard of the race has been improving year on year, they are considering the possibility of changing the date of the event to give runners a better overall experience. 

"I'm very happy with what I have witnessed here. With the resources we have, I think we managed to pull off a great event. We were positive that times will be fast but weather conditions were not on our side today," he said referring to the slightly windy morning the greeted the top runners. “I think we must sit down with the team and likely to move the race to July next year.”