Laban Moiben wins Mumbai Marathon

MUMBAI: Laban Moiben didn't sleep on Saturday evening. The race was barely 10 hours away, and 10-12 hours' sleep is considered a must for marathoners before that. But Moiben couldn't. Manchester United were playing Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League, and how could he miss that!Lack of sleep couldn't, however, affect his performance. It was the first time he was running in Mumbai, in Asia in fact, and the Kenyan made it count by winning the overall men's title at Sunday's Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 48 seconds.It was a sprint finish to the title as Ethiopian Raji Assefa almost spoiled Moiben's day with a late burst. But the Kenyan managed to breast the tape a fraction of a second ahead of Assefa. The third place went to Moiben's close friend and training partner John Kyui (2:10.54).Thewin came as a pleasant surprise for the 29-year-old soccer buff. "I was neverconsidered among the title contenders. William Kipsang was the one we allthought would win. He was fast, he had the best timing (2:05.49, set atRotterdam marathon in 2008). I don't know what went wrong with him. I realized Ihad a chance when I saw the incline on the return stretch. I train on a hillycourse back home, so I ran confidently from then on," said Moiben, who beganrunning in 2005.The conditions were near-perfect, with a coolwesterly breeze urging the runners on. "It felt slightly humid at times,otherwise the weather was great. People were cheering us, telling us go, go, go.It was a tactical race, a good tussle between us and them (Ethiopians)," headded. Around the 28km mark, he got the jitters seeing a pack of Ethiopiansaround him. "There were too many of them around, so I panicked and pushed a bitahead, then returned to the pack."Assefa matched strides with hisrival and positioned himself within striking range of a finishing kick. Labanbeat him back with a powerful burst, which, though, was not fast enough tobetter the course record (2:09.54). "I shall break it next time," was his promptpromise. He's not yet sure of his plans regards his $36,000 prize money. "I cando a lot... I can build a house, I can buy land. I have not thought about ityet."There was no such drama on the women's side, with theEthiopians making a clean sweep of the podium for the third straight year.Netsanet Abeyo ran a strong and aggressive race to leave the field far behind,winning in 2:26.12, a new course record. Netsanet finished more than fourminutes ahead of second-placed Fatuma Sado (2:30.20), while another pre-eventfavourite, Makda Harun, came in third at 2:30.47.Netsanet's effortbroke the course record of 2:26.56, set by her countrymate Koren Yal in 2011. Itwas her seventh appearance at this event and she celebrated her win with a smalljig after crossing the finish line.