Posted: November 30, 2008  :

Athletics: Gebrselassie, Ndereba win 15-kilometer race in Melbourne

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie won the inaugural 15-kilometer Great Australian Run in 42 minutes, 40 seconds on Sunday. Beijing Olympic marathon silver medalist and former world champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya won the women's race in 50:43. New Zealand's Alice Mason was second in 51:27 and Australian Lisa-Jane Weightman third in 51:31. Gebrselassie, who has struggled with jetlag since arriving in Melbourne from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Friday, broke clear of Kenyan Patrick Makau with four kilometers to go. Makau was second in 43:15, while Collis Birmingham overtook fellow Australian Craig Mottram in the closing stages to claim third place in 43:35. Mottram was fourth in 44:08 in the road race held in Melbourne's southern suburbs along with 4,000 recreational runners. Gebrselassie, the Sydney Olympic 10,000-meter champion, became the first man to go under 2 hours, four minutes for the marathon with his 2:03.59 in Berlin in September. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest