Marathons brought forwards because of intense heat
President of the Portuguese Marathon Club Carlos Móia has justified the change in start times of the Lisbon Marathon and Half Marathon today on safety grounds, congratulating the organisation on what he believes were “positive results”.
“I don’t want to make a definitive assessment just yet, because we know that it’s with the last runners that there can be the most difficulties, but everything has gone very well so far”, he said earlier today.
“I’ve always said that it wasn’t a day for breaking records, but even so, there were excellent results,” he told Lusa.
Móia stressed that cancellation of whole event had been on the table, which was the sole reason behind start times being brought forwards.
“We were afraid because of the heat forecast”, he said – referring to temperatures in the mid-to-high 30ºs. “It was a last-minute change and we have to apologise to those who didn’t receive the message telling them that their race was going to start early. Even so, the work that was done in such a short space of time was extraordinary”.
Among winners today, Ethiopia’s Birhan Tesfaye, who came first in the men’s marathon, said he was “very happy” to win the race – which he ran in 2:09.31 hours – and that he loved running with so many people in the streets.
Abraham Cheroben, a Kenyan who ran for Bahrain and won the men’s half marathon in 1:00.20 hours, also praised the course.
“It was a very good race, a very good course and I’m very happy with the victory and the time I achieved,” he told Lusa.
Ethiopians Birhan Tesfaye and Aberu Mulisa won the men’s and women’s races, respectively, of the Lisbon marathon.
José Silva Sousa was the best Portuguese over the distance, coming 10th with a time of 2:25.07.
In the half marathon, Kenyan Abraham Cheroben and Ethiopian Enatnesh Tirusew won the men’s and women’s races respectively.
Rui Pinto (not the country’s famous whistleblower), in 6th place, was the best Portuguese over the distance, with a time of 1:04.22 hours, and the best Portuguese woman was Susana Godinho, with a time of 1:13.12 hours.
The Half Marathon started at the Vasco da Gama Bridge at 9am and finished at Praça do Comércio. It was attended by 10,500 registered runners and started an hour and a half earlier than initially planned.
The Marathon, which started in Cascais, passed through Oeiras and finished in Lisbon’s Praça do Comércio, was attended by 6,000 registered runners and started at 7am – an hour earlier than initially scheduled.
Source material: LUSA/ a.noticia.pt
