Ethiopia's Mulugeta Wins 18th Ljubljana Marathon
The second place among men was taken by Robi Deribe of Ethiopia (2:10:30), while Julius Chepkwony of Kenya was third (2:10:31).
"It is not my first win, it is one among many. My running was good, but the wind was blowing a little too much," Mulugeta said after the race, noting that the pace was too slow for the marathon record to be broken.
Kenya dominated women's marathon, with Edinah Kwambai (2:29:35) and Emily Chepkemoi (2:30:01) winning second and third place, respectively.
Chepkwony said she was happy to get the invitation to Ljubljana and improve her personal best. "I was preparing myself for two months to get in an excellent shape here in the Slovenian capital city".
The Slovenian national title was won by Anton Kosmač, who was 9th overall among men with a time of 2:24:57. Žana Jereb was meanwhile the best Slovenian female runner, coming in 7th with a time of 2:42:09.
Kosmač said he was satisfied with the result, but not as much with the time, as he was bothered by the strong wind. His main goal for the next year is participation at the European Athletics Championship.
Slovenian Mitja Krevs meanwhile won the 21-kilometre race (1:09.00) for men ahead of Fabio Bernardi of Italy (1:11.08) to defend his half-marathon title from Ljubljana in 2012.
Lidija Cerkovnik was the half-marathon winner among women with a time of 1:22.35, beating the second-placed Mojca Grandovec by more than two minutes.
In the first event of the day, Blaž Grad and Maruša Mišmaš won the 10-kilometre race in the men's and women's category, respectively.
Sunday's races featured a total of 12,794 runners, which together with Sunday's events for youth amounted to a total of 19,335 participants.
* Results:
- 42 km, men:
1 Wami Mulugeta (ETH) 2:10:26
2 Robi Deribe (ETH) 2:10:30
3 Chepkwony Julius (KEN) 2:10:31
4 Ishmael Bushendich (KEN) 2:10:32
5 Tefera Goshu Gima (ETH) 2:10:50
6 Abera Gezahegne (ETH) 2:12:06
7 David Tarus (KEN) 2:13:45
8 Paul Biwott (KEN) 2:13:59
9 Anton Kosmač (SLO) 2:24:57
10 Robert Kotnik (SLO) 2:36:40
- 42 km, women:
1 Caroline Chepkwony (KEN) 2:27:27
2 Edinah Kwambai (KEN) 2:29:35
3 Emily S. Chepkemoi (KEN) 2:30:01
4 Atalemahu Kidane (ETH) 2:30:01
5 Eshetu D. Bruktayit (ETH) 2:34:19
6 Mengistu Asnakech (ETH) 2:35:52
7 Žana Jereb (SLO) 2:42:09
8 Veronika Juršić (CRO) 2:59:02
9 Mojca Kermavnar (SLO) 3:09:05
10 Bojana Bjeljac (BiH) 3:11:59
11 Vesna Kiradijeva (SLO) 3:14:27