Enyew Negat and Mulat Takele came home as convincing winners of the 2024 Sofi Malt Lake Hawassa Half Marathon that took part earlier today. Their winning times were 62:42 and 75:05, thus failing to improve on the course records of 61:52 and 72:44 set last year.
Around 200 elite athletes from Addis Ababa made the 275km journey south to compete in this prestigious race which has previously seen the likes of Tamirat Tola, Saeda Kedir and Tenaw Belete make an impression early on in their international careers. The elite athletes were joined by around 3000 others who took part in the mass 21km, the mass 8km and the two children’s races.
Lake Hawassa forms a spectacular backdrop for the race, and the route for the 21km course follows the lakeshore for much of the distance before turning up into the town centre in the final few kilometres.
Mersha Asrat, coach to many of the top distance runners managed by Global Sports communications, says that the race is a great testing ground for young athletes, citing the example of Tiruye Mesfin and Bazezaw Azmare (both coached by Asrat) who won here before going on to impressive marathon debut performances in Europe.
This year’s race was also attaned by Lensa Mekonnen, State Minister from the Ministry of Tourism, and the Hawassa City Mayor Ato Mekuria Mershaye, both of whom spoke about the race’s potential for attracting more international runners. Full results:
https://result.greatethiopianrun.org/results/HAWASSA/21km-elite
