Kenyans Dominate At Edinburgh Cross-Country Race

The freshly fallen snow along the course made the race even more challenging.

Eliud Kipchoge and Linet Masai dominated the men’s and women’s races at the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross-Country event last weekend. The race was held on a challenging snowy course that wound through the Scottish capital’s Holyrood Park.

Kipchoge’s winning time for the 4.2K event was 13:12. Asbel Kiprop (13:18) and Brimin Kipruto (13:19), also Kenyans, finished second and third respectively.

Kipchoge, 26 years old, is a two-time world championship medalist in the 5,000m event. “I expected a good performance, because my training had gone very well. It is a good sign for the year,” he said afterwards.

Linet Masai won the women’s 5.7K race in 20:24. Second place went to Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia (20:32), while third place was awarded to Vivian Cheruiyot (20:36).

“It was hard to run on snow, because I am not used to it,” she recalled. “Additionally the opposition was very strong, so I was not that confident before the race. Now I want to finally win the gold medal at the World Cross Country Championships in March, because in the past two years I ended up with silver.”

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