Ethiopians Tadu Abate Deme and Yeshi Kalayu Chekole make light of Coastal Road addition to emerge men’s and women’s champions at Tata Mumbai Marathon; four out of six top finishers from same African nation
Ethiopia’s Tadu Abate Deme crosses the finish line of the Tata Mumbai Marathon at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus on Sunday; (right) Ethiopia’s Yeshi Kalayu Chekole after winning the elite women’s category at the Tata Mumbai Marathon on Sunday. Pics/Satej Shinde
Ethiopia stamped its fleety and fierce footprint all over the Tata Mumbai Marathon (TMM) course on Sunday with Tadu Abate Deme and compatriot Yeshi Kalayu Chekole winning the international elite men’s and women’s marathon respectively, taking home prize money of USD 50,000 (approximately R45 lakh each). With this victory, Ethiopians have now taken both, men’s and women’s, titles together in Mumbai for the seventh time in 21 editions.
See-saw battle for title
Though course records (men: 2:07:32 and women: 2:24:15) stayed intact, it was a riveting day of racing. The men’s international elite marathon witnessed a see-saw battle with Kenyan Leonard Kiprotich Langat, 2025 runner-up Merhawi Kesete (Eritrea) and Tadu Abate (Ethiopia) battling from the start.
There was a leading pack with Uganda’s 2023 world marathon champion Victor Kiplangat and Ethiopian Gada Gemsisa within it along with the trio till the halfway mark. Then, the leading pack thinned with only three runners essentially fighting to the finish. With a few kilometres to go, Kesete was left behind and it was a battle royale between Abate and Langat thereafter, exchanging the lead. Though it could have been anybody’s race at that stage, Abate did look the stronger of the two and eventually turbo-charged in the last kilometre, shaking off Langat, and acknowledging the crowd’s cheers at the finish line. Abate clocked 2:09:55, with Langat finishing 15 seconds behind and Kesete from Eritrea finishing third (2:10:22).
“Though the hills [referring to the incline at Peddar Road and the Coastal Road] were tough, my body felt good and there was no problem,” Abate, who had recently run a marathon in China, said at the post-race press conference.
Langat said, “It was a very competitive and tactical race from start to finish. It was a good race on good roads; a well-organised event.”
Kesete said, “I’m happy with my third place, especially because after 10km I experienced some stomach problem. I hope to win next year,” he said.
The women’s race saw winner Yeshi Kalayu Chekole of Ethiopia breaking away from the leaders at the 32-km mark and pushing all the way to the finish, clocking a stupendous 2:25:13.
All Ethiopia in women’s race
While the men’s top three featured an Ethiopian, Kenyan and Eritrean, the women had no such diversity with only Ethiopian dominance as Yeshi was followed by compatriots Kidsan Alema Gebremedhin (2:27:35) and Gojjam Tsegaye Enyew (2:28:27).
Yeshi said post-race that though she expected to break the course record, she was happy with the result. Kidsan said, “The course had some ups and downs, but I managed the pace.”
Enyew explained, “At the 33-km mark, I had some pain and stopped. Then I recovered and rejoined the race. I struggled and pushed a lot to earn third place.”
2:09:55s
Time taken by Tadu Abate Deme to win gold at the Tata Mumbai Marathon
2:25:13s
Time taken by Yeshi Kalayu Chekole to win the elite women’s race at the TMM
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