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Journalism of Courage
Olympian Deriba Merga of Ethiopia would look to exploit his familiarity of the track to defend his title when over 8,500 people,including 266 foreign athletes,brave a chilly Sunday morning to run at Airtel Delhi Half Marathon here tomorrow.
The event which has grown in terms of participation as well as popularity in the last five years,is offering USD 210,000 as the prize money,with the men and women winners bagging USD 25,000 each.
Merga,who had clocked his personal best of 59.15 minutes at the 21.097km race last year,would face stiff competition this time from last year’s runner-up Wilson Kipsang of Kenya and reigning South African national champion Stephen Mokoko.
“I am looking to perform better this year. I would be running here for second time and I think,familiarity to the track would give me some advantages,” said Merga,who won the Sunfeast World 10K event in Bangalore this year.
“I have trained well and am in form. The weather is also looking fine. So I am confident about doing well,” he added.
Among women,holder Mergia Aselefech of Ethiopia exuded confident of defending her title but she will face tough competition from Kenyan long-distance runner Mary Keitany,who won the World Half Marathon Championship in England earlier this month.
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