Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor and Peris Chepchirchir won the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships titles in Cardiff, Wales yesterday.

Kenya’s Peris Chepchirchir wins the Women’s Elite IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff, yesterday. INSET: Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor wins the men’s race. [PHOTOS: AP]

Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor retained his title as Peris Chepchirchir stunned a classy line up to win the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships titles in Cardiff, Wales yesterday.

Kamworor, who works for National Police Service, dictated the men’s high pace and had sweet revenge over four-time world champion Mo Farah, who beat him in the 10,000m final in Beijing last year.

Kamworor re-enacted his world cross-country winning formula in his usual gun-to-tape front running style.

The 23-year-old runner sped away in the final stretch with his arms pumping to victory in 59.10 seconds —not bad as he took a fall at the start. Bedan Karoki (59.36), Mo Farah (59:59) and Ethiopia’s Abayneh Ayele (60:06) followed.

It was particularly sweet victory for Chepchirchir in the women, who set the Kenya’s medal display in motion when she blew away a star-studded field to wear the women’s crown.

The five Kenyan women –Pascalia Kipkoech, Cynthia Limo, Mary Wacera, Chepchirchir and Gladys Chesir –stormed into the lead at the start of the race in Cardiff Castle area, dictating the pace even as Ethiopia’s Genet Yalew made a brilliant surge.

Kipkoech, third at the 2012 world half marathon, dominated the lead as she stepped up the pace and went through the five-kilometre mark in a swift 16:31.

Limo, who won the 2016 Rak 21km race and boasting the world best time with 66:04, looked strong as she also crossed in 16:31 alongside a pack of five that included Ethiopia’s Netsanet Gudeta, world half marathon silver medallist Mary Wacera, Chepchirchir and Chesir.

The three –Chepchirchir, Wacera and Limo –battled Ethiopia’s Yalew along the Wales Millenium Centre through to Roath Lake Park amid sonorous cheers from the crowds that lined up on the streets.

Limo and Chepchirchir looked too strong as they opened a 40-metre gap between them and Wacera, although it was clear Kenya was headed for a 1-2-3 sweep, just slightly below the 1-5 sweep in Copenhagen in 2014.

As a rookie, Chepchirchir beat the odds as she outfoxed Limo in a sprint finish in 67:31. Limo, an Iten based athlete, settled for silver in 67:54 ahead of Wacera, who bagged bronze in 67:54. Ethiopians Netsanet Guda (68:01) and Genet Yalew (68:15) came in fourth and fifth as Gladys Chesir (68:46) and Paskalia Kipkoech (69:44) sealed the top-seven spots to earn Kenya the overall title ahead of Ethiopia and Japan.

Chepchirchir, a former student at AIC Kosirai Girls High School in Nandi County, said: “The race was not bad. “The rains were hectic although the course is relatively good. I will now prepare for 10,000m Olympics trials.”