While you were probably snoozing in bed or reaching for your second slice of toast, Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw broke the women’s half-marathon world record in the Antrim Coast Half Marathon. She did it in 63 minutes and 43 seconds which cut 19 seconds off the previous mark set by Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich earlier this year. She’s the first woman to ever go sub 1 hour 4mins.
Yalemzerf Yehualaw wins the 2021 Antrim Coast Half Marathon and sets a World Athletics world record for the women's Half Marathon in 1:03:43!
Yalemzerf is the first woman to ever go sub-1:04 👏 👏 👏 pic.twitter.com/8Eyi78GSqJ
— Antrim Coast Half Marathon (@CoastHalf) August 29, 2021
The men’s race was won by fellow Ethiopian Jemal Yimer in 60:29
Jemal Yimmer wins the men's race – 𝟭:𝟬𝟬:𝟮𝟴.𝟯 🔥 🔥 🔥 pic.twitter.com/R7NcZci8Kh
— Antrim Coast Half Marathon (@CoastHalf) August 29, 2021
Slugger’s own Gladys Ganiel finished the race in a very respectable 1:16:59. All this puts my parkrun times to shame 🙂
Well done to the race organisers who have done a great job in turning the old Larne Half Marathon into a prestigious race that can attract such elite-level athletes. Sometimes it’s easy to focus on the negatives of living in Northern Ireland. But here’s an example of local people doing great things, including the hundreds of local runners who also took part.
For those who enjoy awkward photos of politicians, here is Sammy Wilson with Sir Mo Farah.
Great to welcome Sir Mo to Larne ahead of the @CoastHalf! pic.twitter.com/lehSF6A5we
— Gordon Lyons MLA (@gordonlyons1) August 28, 2021
I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about big ideas in society. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.