The record of the EDP Porto Marathon was broken

EDP Porto Marathon reached this Sunday morning its 15th edition, with a new record of the race. For the first time in the history of the event, an Ugandan, Robert Chemonges, took to the streets of Porto, Matosinhos and Gaia, with an excellent final time of 2h09m05, and thus far surpassed the best record produced in Invicta by the Kenyan Philemon Baaru in the 2011 edition (2h09m51s), while on the female side, Ethiopian Abeba Gebremeskel, triumphed with 2h30m13s.

This achievement was accomplished on a dark, gloomy day, with rain marking the course of the race, attended by athletes from all conditions in 75 countries, which also reconfirmed the prestige that the race has been winning overseas.

In total, 16,000 people participated in the event, which in addition to the Marathon itself also included the APO Family Race Corrida dos Ossos Saudáveis, 15 km, and the Fun Race, a 6 km mini-race / walk.

At the start of the race, at 9 am, an ocean of people were waiting for the athletes in the Anemone Roundabout, on the way to Matosinhos, when Rui Pedro Silva, accompanied by others who were scheduled for the APO Family Race Corrida dos Ossos Saudáveis, like Jorge Santa Cruz and Daniel Pinheiro, was in the front of the race. Jorge Santa Cruz, Sporting Clube de Braga, won the APO Family Race Corrida dos Ossos Saudáveis, ahead of Daniel Pinheiro, last year's notable second in the Marathon, and José Azevedo.

On the men's front, when Rui Pedro Silva finished his role as a pacer, there were a dozen Africans, long kilometers led by the veteran Kenyan veteran Kenneth Mungara. The natural selection began to be made on the way to Gaia and Afurada, first there were only four in front, then little by little the forcing of Robert Chemonges had a strong effect. At 30 km the Ugandan waved goodbye to his running companions and no one else could follow him to the finish line. Denouncing a surprising freshness, Chemonges won and convinced, and showed resources to do even better than the 2:09:05 that marked the new record of the course, as always finished at the gates of the City Park. Born on October 5, 1997, with only 21 years old, the Ugandan played Invicta at his sixth marathon, and took advantage of the poor result of his last race of 42195m to date, his withdrawal in April at the Games of the British Commonwealth of Gold Coast. In the year of his debut in the marathon in 2016, he won the race in Trieste, Italy, and last year obtained his previous personal record with another triumph, this time in Düsseldorf, Germany, with 2:10:32. Thus, in six attempted marathons, he reached the third victory and became the first non-Kenyan or Ethiopian to win on the streets of Porto. The Kenyan, this year, did not have any place on the podium, as second place went to debutant Oliver Irabaruta of Burundi, with a promising time of 2:09:48, also below the previous record of the course, and the third for Ethiopian Fikadu Kebede, with 2:10:41.

This 15th EDP Porto Marathon was also the Portuguese championship of distance, and here was a surprise winner. For quite a long time José Moreira and Carlos Costa were leading the race, keeping each other company, and everything indicated that the triumph would be decided between both. However, with a spectacular recovery well after the 30th kilometer by José Sousa, who was a long time within 700 meters of the duo, would allow him to reach them; Carlos Costa would be the first to lose contact and to some amazement the athlete of AR Casaense would end up even unraveling the presence of José Moreira to become the first Portuguese in the goal, with eighth place in the general. With the national title, José Sousa obtained in his first marathon soon less than 2:20:00, with 2:19:25, something very interesting in the nowadays at national level. Trained now by Ricardo Ribas, Sousa was the winner of the Nazareth Half Marathon at the end of last year, and plans to repeat the experience in the marathon.

José Moreira was second in the Portuguese standings in the ninth place overall, with 2:19:43, Carlos Costa finished third in the 10th overall, with 2:19:48, a new personal record as well.

On the female side, the race was also quite linear. At the beginning and in the company of many male athletes, some of whom are well known in the popular events in Portugal, three were leading, Ethiopian Abbe Gebremeskel and Meskerem Hunde, and Burundian Elvanie Nimbona. The latter was the first to yield, and between the two Ethiopians Hunde was the most active, while Gebremeskel, who was much smaller in stature, was safeguarded. As in men, after the 30 km Gebremeskel would escape, and quickly gained an advantage impossible to reach. On Avenida de Montevideo, on the way to the goal, she showed some anxiety, looking back a few times, but at the beginning of the last climb, she already knew that she would not leave the first position. With 2:30:13s ended up not being able to lower of the significant barrier of 2:30:00, but still she broke her personal record, 2:30:18, with a second place in the marathon of Warsaw, in September of 2013.