Kenyan Alex Matata and Ethiopian Asayech Ayichew win the Seven Hills Run 15km in Nijmegen

English-speaking running fans may like the endonym “Zevenheuvelenloop” over the Anglo name Seven Hills Run that takes place in Nijmegen, Netherlands. It sounds cooler.

Speaking of cooler, there is some history with this race, as legend Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia won the race three times in his career. Also, Kenyan Tegla Laroupe won three consecutive times.

Both Laroupe and Gebrselassie held the marathon world record at 2:20:43 and 2:03:59, set on the Berlin Marathon course, respectively.

To round out the association with characteristic cool, the temperatures ranged from 6°C to 12°C on the day; conditions were damp.

On Sunday, November 15, Kenya’s Alex Matata defended his 2025 Seven Hills Run title in 40:49, just seven seconds shy of Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo’s African 15km Area Best Performance of 40:42, set on the same course two years ago.

The 29-year-old owns a half-marathon best of 59:11, set in March this year in Yangzhou, China.

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Mike Foppen, just one year removed from finishing sixth in a Dutch record of 42:42, raced tactically to take fifth in a personal best of 42:10. The race is staged in Nijmegen, the Dutch athlete’s home city.

Foppen bettered the previous European best of 42:29, set by Belgium’s Bashir Abdi in 2009.

The 29-year-old holds seven national records or bests, spanning distances from 2000m to 10,000m. Among his most notable performances is his 13:08.60 over 5000m, set indoors in Boston two years ago.

However, Sweden’s Andreas Almgren has since bettered that 15km performance, clocking 41:47 en route to his European half-marathon record of 58:06 at the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen in September.

Almgren went on to win the New York City Marathon in his debut over the distance.

Women’s race

Ethiopia’s Asayech Ayichew took the victory in 45:29, recording the second-fastest time in history for a standalone women’s 15km performance. Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai, the 2020 Olympic 3000m steeplechase champion, finished second in 45:56, with Ethiopia’s Lomi Muleta third in 46:44.

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Ayichew, now 21, owns an impressive 10km best of 29:43, set in Valencia in January 2025, when she was just 19.

Meanwhile, it was also a breakthrough performance for Maureen Koster, who set a personal best in the women’s race.

The European 10,000m silver medallist raced intelligently to finish fourth in 47:33, taking almost two minutes off her previous lifetime best and leading the European contingent.

Now 34, Koster has demonstrated considerable range. She holds the Dutch indoor 1000m record with a time of 2:37.85, set in Birmingham, UK, three years ago. She has also run 30:50.31 for 10,000m and 8:26.30 for 3000m.

Much of the pre-race attention centred on European cross-country silver medallist Megan Keith, who set out to break Kenyan-born Lornah Kiplagat’s long-standing European best of 46:59. However, Keith dropped out shortly after the 12km mark, having perhaps overcommitted to the lead group in the early stages.

Lisa Rooms, a member of Belgium’s gold-medal-winning team at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships, finished sixth in 48:32. She was one place and eight seconds ahead of Belgian teammate Julie Voet, who clocked 48:40.

Top 10 results

Men – 15km

Women – 15km