Borinquen Runners

by Steve Weizman Steve Weizman – Fri Mar 25 2011, 8:30 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Jerusalem's first-ever marathon ended in amusing confusion on Friday, with a Kenyan runner, said to have taken a wrong turn, crossing the finish line for the half marathon and still winning.

But all was judged to have turned out well, and correctly, in the end.

Organisers said Raymond Kipkoechh, 34, was electronically logged as having run the qualifying distance in the shortest time despite not having crossed the official line for his event.

He ran the 42.2 kilometre (26 mile) endurance event in 2 hours 26:44 minutes.

What actually happened is still unclear, but Kipkoechh made for the finish line of the half-marathon. While obviously the climax of a shorter run, it actually lies just a few blocks down the same road from the one for the full marathon.

Local media said Kipkoechh had taken a wrong turn at some point, which is why he ended up in the wrong place, but organisers could not say exactly what happened.

In second place, 11 seconds behind him, was Mutai Kopkorir, 24, and coming third, with a time of 2:27:19, was Kiman Njorage, 33, both of them also Kenyans, organisers said.

About 10,000 participants took part in the messy marathon, held in the shadow of a fatal bus bombing and in the face of opposition from Palestinians and leftist Israelis.

The race, which passed through stretches of Jerusalem's annexed Arab eastern sector, forced the closure of many city streets and left the few thoroughfares remaining open choked with bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Apart from the full course, participants had the option of running the half-marathon, a 10 kilometre (6.2 mile) course or a 4.2 kilometre (2.6 mile) fun-run.

Following a Wednesday bomb attack next to Jerusalem's central bus station, in which a British bible student was killed and more than 30 people were wounded, Mayor Nir Barkat defied suggestions the event be cancelled over security concerns.

"When terror attempts to disrupt our way of life, the best solution is to get back to normal as quickly as possible," he told reporters at the bomb scene. "Events in Jerusalem will not be cancelled and Jerusalem will not stop running."

Organisers said 9,000 Israeli runners, including 2,000 soldiers, were joined by more than 1,000 visiting competitors with the largest foreign delegations coming from the United States, Italy, Germany and France.

Starting from the Knesset, Israel's parliament, the route took runners up and down several hills, through the walled Old City and other areas of east Jerusalem, including the biblical Mount of Olives.

The Jerusalem Post daily said that three of the runners - a Christian, a Jew and a Muslim - were to wear T-shirts proclaiming, "Three religions, one God."

The event drew fire from the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Committee, which sent a letter of protest to German sportswear giant, Adidas, one of the main sponsors of the event, for backing an Israeli event involving east Jerusalem and including Israeli soldiers.

It also took Adidas to task for partnering co-sponsor Eden Springs, an Israeli bottler of mineral water on the occupied Golan Heights.

Leftwing city councillors also wrote to Adidas, urging it to pull out, but the company's logo was still emblazoned on signs along the course Friday morning.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the rest of the world.

The Jewish state considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital, a claim not recognised by the international community. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.