Kenya’s Betty Chepkwony reclaimed her women title at the 30th edition of the Run Rome the Marathon, held on Sunday (16) at Fori Imperiali in Rome, Italy.
The 29 year-old who won this race two years ago, led a pack of eight runners that included Lilian Jebitok, Rebecca Kangogo, Maeregu Hayelom Shegae, Gebre Fente Selam, Lilian Jelagat, Beatrice Jepkemei, and Euliter Tanui, as they went through the 5km mark in 17:11 and by 15km, only five remained: Kangogo, Jebitok, Shegae, Chepkwony, and Gebre.
At the halfway mark, a front-running trio of Chepkwony, Gebre, and Kangogo had pulled away from the rest of the field.
The Ethiopian took charge of the race at the 35km mark but Chepkwony responded strongly, closing in at 38km as she waited patiently behind her to strike at the right time. When two reached the 40km, the Kenyan engaged her gear and surged ahead with a killer kick that Gebre could not respond to, dropping her like a hot potato and cutting the tape in a time of 2:26.16 and the latter coming home over two minutes in 2:28.22 with Kangogo left with no other option but to settle in third place in 2:31.12.
“It’s my second victory here in Rome, after the one in 2023, it was a bit of a cold and windy day. My opponents gave me a hard time but I managed to get the better of them, I’m very happy,” said Chepkwony.
