Sports

Ethopian Wegi Habtamu Wins Fairfield Half Marathon


A 20-year-old Ethopian runner claimed the title of this weekend's the Stratton Faxon half-marathon that drew more than 3,700 runners. 

Wegi Arga Habtamu clocked a pace of five minutes per mile, crossing the line at       1:05:31 on Sunday. He finished just two seconds ahead of Philip Lagat of Kenya.

The 13.1 mile run through Fairfield, Southport and Westport was Habtamu's U.S. debut.

The top woman finisher was another Ethopian, Askale Merachi who ran 1:17.47 with Alice Kamunya of Kenya, the second female to cross the tape at 1:17.56.

More than 5,000 runners participated in the weekend race series that began with a 5K race on Saturday, June 21. Timothy Milenkevich, 32, of Ansonia, was the overall winner with a time of 15:54. The top female finisher was Julie McElroy, 47, of Sleepy Hollow, NY at 19:10, followed by Jacqueline Pola, 29, of Fairfield, at 20:38 and Catherine Lyons, 50, of Darien, at 20:52.

All of the race results can be found here on the Fairfield Races website.


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