During the India Gate segment of the Delhi half marathon,defending champion Deriba Merga of Ethiopia was overtaken by his compatriot,a fleet-footed 19-year-old by the name of Tilahun Regassa. Merga harked at the youngster,and signaled him to follow his lead,but Regassa refused. Less than half an hour later,Merga crossed the ribbon to successfully defend his title,followed by countryman Eshetu Wendimu and Kenyan Wilson Kipsang. 43 seconds later,a disappointed and somewhat sheepish Regassa finished fourth. He is young and talented but has a lot to learn, Merga said after the race. If he would have followed my lead,he would be sitting next to me in second position. Merga covered 21.097 kilometres in 59:54 minutes on Sunday to win the Delhi event for the second successive year. Im proud to win in Delhi again,but I'm not happy with my time. I desperately wanted to run below 59 minutes,' Merga said. Practicing for the event on forest tracks and soft grass instead of the traditional tarmac due to an injury,Merga believes that the lack of training hindered his performance. I was forced to run on softer surfaces during my build up to the event. Tarmac requires powerful strides,but there is always a next time, he added. Meanwhile in the womens category,Kenyan Mary Keitany ran the fourth fastest time in history to set a new course record of 1:06:54. She was followed by the Ethiopian duo of Ayelew Wude (1:07:58) and Aberu Kebede (1:07:59). I set 1:06:36 in Birmingham,the third fastest time. This too was a good race. I reached the 10 kilometre marker forty seconds past the half hour mark. At that time I was going for the world record time of 1:06:25. But I suffered a stomach stitch,which hindered me from achieving my ambition, Keitany said,adding,Next year I will be chasing the world record in Delhi. Deepchand Saharan,who finished the race in exactly 64 minutes,set a new course record for local athletes and,at 17th,he was also the top Indian finisher in the event. Deepchand was followed by Santosh Kumar (1:05:10),while Keralas Soji Mathews (1:05:18) finished 19th to round up the top three Indian athletes. Sukanya Mall finished 22nd overall to lead the Indian women in the race with a time of 1:20:11. The race was really high paced. The Kenyans and the Ethiopians broke away right in the beginning. They are way too fast. My aim was to pull the Indian contingent higher up the order. But after a while I lost hope and broke away at the eight kilometre mark. I am happy with the result, the Armyman said.
