Kenyans Wisley Kimeli and Rael Nguriatukel were the champions of the men's and women's Lisbon marathons, respectively, with the African country claiming the two podiums in the Portuguese event.

The race took place in Cascais at Avenida da República and ended in Lisbon at Praça do Comércio. Wisley Kimeli finished in 2:08.33 hours, ahead of his countrymen Emanuel Kemboi (2:09.10) and Edwin Tuitoek (2:09.48).

In the women's race, Rael Nguriatukel won in 2:27.11 hours, finishing over three minutes behind Cynthia Kosgei in second place (2:30.36). Sheila Chebet completed the podium with 100 percent Kenyan results (2:33.48).

The first Portuguese athlete to finish the marathon was Bruno Lourenço of JFD Running, who finished in 11th position overall (2:26.44 hours). Laura Grilo, who represented the Clube de Praças da Armada, was the top female racer, finishing in eighth place with 2:57.03.

“I tried to manage my race for the women's elite and didn't worry too much about where I was. I had a personal best of two and a half hours, and I managed to beat it by four minutes. I tried not to get too involved until the 30th kilometre and from then on it was a case of managing according to how much energy I had. I think I can run a little better and cut another minute or two off my time,” said Bruno Lourenço.

Laura Grilo acknowledged her joy at reaching her objective. “It's the third time I've come here this year. It was windy and it wasn't much for times, it was just to see how the machine was doing. I just let it flow, from back to front, as it should.”

With 8,000 runners, including 6,000 foreigners of 90 different nations, including 2,000 Portuguese, the 2024 Lisbon Marathon set a record for entries sold out three months prior to the event.

Author

A passionate Irish journalist with a love for cycling, politics and of course Portugal especially their sausage rolls.

Rory Mc Ginn