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Sezgin Atac and Fatma Demir won the Istanbul Half Marathon on Sunday. The race was able to be run with just elite athletes. A total of 47 toed-the-line.
The 22-year-old Atac won the race in the time of 1 hour, three minutes, and 16 seconds (63:16) to take the men’s race. Demir won the women’s race in 73:17.
There was a close finish with Spanish runner Adel Mechaal finishing less than a second behind Atac for second 63:17, while Kenyan Benard Sang finished in third position, 35 seconds back.
Kenyan athlete Daisy Jepto Kimeli finished in second place, back at 73:29. The third-place finisher was Turkey’s Esma Aydemir who finished in the time of 75:40.
The 24-year-old Demir also ran a half-marathon in Zagreb, Croatia in August, finishing in the time of 73:48.
The half-marathon was Atac’s debut. He has run the 10,000m in the time of 28:52.54 and the 5000m in 14:32.74.
In a unique social distancing measure, apparently athlete wore masks at the start and removed them at various points early in the race, then were handed new ones at the finish.
Only Turkish citizens and foreigners who happen to live in Turkey were permitted to compete in the race.