Geoffrey Mutai, Sally Kipyego win NYC Half titles; strong Canadian results

In a commanding victory, two-time New York City Marathon champ Geoffrey Mutai won his first New York City Half title on Sunday in chilly conditions. The race was run in sub-zero temperatures.

Mutai broke away from the field fairly early along in the 21.1K race. He ran the 10K split in 29:36 with the leaders and pulled away shortly after the 12K mark. He finished the race in a 1:00:50, well ahead of Mo Farah’s 1:01:07 time for second, which caused more commotion on the day. The time was well off Mutai’s 58:58 personal best.

Farah, preparing for his marathon debut next month at the London Marathon fell early-on in the race but quickly got up and rejoined the lead pack. Farah outkicked Stephen Sambu for second before collapsing after the race and being taken away for medical attention in a wheelchair.

Farah was able to talk to reporters later in the day, suggesting his condition was not too straining.

“Conditions today were very cold,” Farah told the Telegraph. “London’s going to be different, but I felt good up to the point I went down. It happens in the race. You’ve just got to deal with it.”

Eric Gillis was the top Canadian in the men’s race, ahead of training partner Reid Coolsaet. Gillis came in with a small personal best of 1:03:30, a few seconds ahead of his previous half-marathon best. He finished 13th in a deep and talented international field.

Coolsaet ran 1:04:53 for 24th.

In the women’s race, Sally Kipyego won with an impressive 1:08:31 clocking in her marathon debut. Kipyego was the silver medallist over 10,000m in the 2012 Olympics. Her time broke the NYC Half record by four seconds.

Krista DuChene, the top Canadian female, finished 12th among women in 1:12:26. DuChene holds the second-fastest women’s marathon time in Canadian history behind competitor Lanni Marchant.