Challa Gossa and Stacy Ndiwa spent Sunday morning in Cali doing what altitude, humidity, and defending champions could not: they took control of two messy, attritional races and made them their own. The Cali Marathon, now swollen to more than 20,000 registrants in only its second year, delivered its usual cocktail of early‑morning heat, steam rising off the pavement, and a course that climbs just enough to remind athletes they’re running at 1,000 metres. Course records were never going to survive that combination, and they didn’t.
Gossa times it perfectly
Challa, or “Chala,” in the Ethiopian language of Oromifa, means “better” or “superior.” To others in the East African country, it means “In the light of home.” How apropos for Challa Gossa on this marathon Sunday.
The men’s race turned into a slow boil. Ten men roiled through 10K in 30:23; ambitious for the conditions, but not suicidal. Eric Kiptanui, the 2:05:47 Kenyan who was supposed to be the gravitational centre of the race, drifted off the back before 15K and spent the rest of the morning in no-man’s-land, eventually finishing sixth in 2:16:27.
By halfway (65:00), six athletes and two pacers remained: defending champion Evans Mayaka, Ezra Tanui, Ezra Kering, and Uganda’s Martin Musau, shadowed by Ethiopians Habtamu Birlew and Challa Gossa. The pacers peeled away one by one—Mayko Geay first, then Brian Kwemoi—and the pace sagged under the humidity. A course record was already a memory by 30K.
Still, five men held together until 40K, where Mayaka finally tried to reprise last year’s winning move. He got separation from Kering but not from the Ethiopians. Down the long home straight, with roughly 250 metres left, Gossa shifted gears, went past Mayaka cleanly, and never looked back. His 2:11:49 wasn’t fast, but it was decisive.
Mayaka admitted afterward that the humidity “and steam rising off the roads” made the race feel heavier than last year. Gossa, 25, who owns a 2:07:32 best and was runner‑up in Frankfurt in 2024, kept his powder dry until the final metres: “I decided to stay in the group and rely on my finishing speed… once I saw the finish line I pushed.”
It was his first marathon win, earned the hard way.
Ndiwa vs. Ndiwa (no relation, plenty of tension)
Ndiwa can mean “giraffe” in Kenya, not a specifically Swahili word, but a regional term known for that purpose. Fortunately, for these two, they ran more like antelopes or “swala” in Swahili.
Their race was more straightforward, at least in outcome. Stacy Ndiwa, Gladys Chesir, Emmah Ndiwa, Eritrea’s Nazret Weldu, and Ethiopia’s Sadiya Awel formed the early pack, hitting 10K in 34:35. The pace lifted, Chesir and Weldu fell away, and the remaining trio reached halfway in 73:18, on pace for Stacy’s hoped‑for 2:26.
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Then the humidity did what humidity does.
Awel burned a match at 25K when she stopped for her bottle and had to sprint back to the leaders. It cost her. Soon she was gone, leaving the two Ndiwas to sort it out.
The decisive moment came around 34K. Emmah, last year’s champion, began to drift. Stacy, following her pacer with the calm of someone who trusts her training, pressed slightly, and the gap opened. It stayed open.
She crossed the line in 2:29:55, well clear, with Emmah settling for second. “My training had gone well, so I was confident,” Stacy said. “We were on pace at halfway, but I was getting tired… after 35K I felt Emmah was beginning to struggle, so I pushed a bit harder.”
A race defined by conditions
Cali’s marathon is still young, but it’s already developing a personality: early start, heavy air, and a field that grows faster than the city can print bib numbers. It’s an Elite Label race now, and Sunday showed why—deep fields, tactical racing, and athletes forced to think as much as they run.
Gossa and Stacy Ndiwa didn’t just win; they solved the course like Sham-pi-yon or bingwas.
Results
Men
| Place | Athlete | Country | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Challa Gossa | ETH | 2:11:49 |
| 2 | Evans Mayaka | KEN | 2:11:54 |
| 3 | Habtamu Birlew | ETH | 2:11:56 |
| 4 | Martin Musau | UGA | 2:11:59 |
| 5 | Ezra Kering | KEN | 2:12:20 |
| 6 | Eric Kiptanui | KEN | 2:16:27 |
| 7 | Carlos Mario Patino | COL | 2:18:38 |
| 8 | Satiago Zerda | COL | 2:18:38 |
Women
| Place | Athlete | Country | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stacy Ndiwa | KEN | 2:29:55 |
| 2 | Emmah Ndiwa | KEN | 2:31:01 |
| 3 | Gladys Chesir | KEN | 2:33:59 |
| 4 | Sadiya Awel | ETH | 2:34:25 |
| 5 | Cynthia Kosgei | KEN | 2:35:22 |
| 6 | Nazret Weldu | ERI | 2:37:49 |
| 7 | Mildrey Echavarria | COL | 2:40:45 |
| 8 | Kellys Arias | COL | 2:41:50 |
