Men

1. Felicien Muhitira 1:00:382. Eric Sebahire 1:01:063. Alexis Nizeyimana 1:01:514. Robert Kajuga 1:01:525. Jean Hakizimana 1:02:02

Women

1. Salome Nyirarukundo 1:10:042. Clementine Mukandanga 1:13:213. Martha Yankurije 1:19:18

Felicien Muhitira clocked one hour and 38 seconds to claim a gold medal in the inaugural Kigali HeForShe Half-Marathon while Salome Nyirarukundo took the women’s title yesterday at Amahoro stadium.

Muhitira, 21, beat off stiff challenge from rivals Eric Sebahire, who used 1:01:06 to win silver and Alexis Nizeyimana, who covered the 21.096km in 1:01:51 to settle for bronze.

Fresh from competing at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China in August and All Africa Games in Congo-Brazzaville last month, Muhitira proved he has what it takes to be the country’s best in this distance and the 10,000 metres.

"I’m very excited to win today, I trained a lot and I am glad the hard work I put in has paid off. It was a very tough race. Now I can focus on future competitions including the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships (set for March 27, 2016 in Wales),” Muhitira told Times Sport.

In women’s fray, youngster Nyirarukundo, set a new personal best of 1:10:04 to win gold, Clementine Mukandanga used 1:13:21 to take silver medal while Martha Yankurije claimed bronze in 1:19:18.

"This win means a lot to me and my club, it makes me want more, which means working even harder,” said the 18-year old APR athletics club runner, who also won the Dar-es-Salaam Rotary half marathon last month.

The first edition of Kigali HeforShe Half Marathon attracted a total of 518 athletes, including 304 in men’s half-marathon, 80 in women’s category and 134 runners in a 5km ‘Run for Fun’ open to amateurs of all ages in both genders.

The winners in the half marathon were awarded a trophy, medal (gold) and Rwf250.000 cash prize, the silver medalists walked away with Rwf150.000 while bronze medalists took home Rwf100.000 each.

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