Yehualaw clinches third Antrim Coast Half victory

Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw secured a third win in the Antrim Coast Half Marathon women's event as Kenya's Alex Nzioka Matata earned victory in the men's race.

Yehualaw, who won the 2022 London Marathon, was well clear by halfway and her finishing time of 65 minutes and 34 seconds in wet and windy conditions left her one minute and 16 seconds clear of Kenya's Loice Chemnung.

Joyciline Jepkosgei, the 2021 London Marathon winner, was expected to be Yehualaw's main challenger but had to settle for third place, a minute and 33 seconds off the pace.

Amid the inclement weather on the 13-mile course in and around Larne, Yehualaw's winning time was well outside her personal best of 63:51.

Yehualaw, 25, thought she had set a new world record in her first run in the Northern Ireland event in 2021 after crossing the line in 63:44 but that time was not ratified after the course was found to be 54 metres short.

In the men's race, Nzioka Matata, 27, produced a brilliant run in the awful weather conditions to break 60 minutes as he clocked 59 minutes and 48 seconds.

The Kenyan's time was only 11 seconds outside his personal best set when he won the Padova Half Marathon in Italy earlier this year.

Nzioka Matata's winning time left 41 seconds ahead of compatriot Hillary Kipkoech (60:29) with Ethiopia's two-time Tokyo Marathon winner Birhanu Legese a further second back in third place.

The winner broke clear of the world's sixth fastest ever marathon runner Legese just after halfway and was never threatened thereafter.

Nzioka Matata's compatriot Hillary Chepkwony was the fastest man in the field with a personal best of 58:53 set in Valencia last October but found himself detached from the leaders from an early stage and was unable to get back in contention as he eventually finished two minutes and 10 seconds off the pace in sixth place.