Tamirat Tola from Ethiopia won the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon with a timing of 2:04:11sec in the men’s race while Worknesh Degefa Debele, also from Ethiopia finished first in the women’s race with a timing of 2:22:36sec.

Tola recorded a Dubai Marathon course record in the process, beating Ayele Abshero of Ethiopia’s timing of 2:04:23, which was set in the 2012 Dubai Marathon edition.

Debele beat pre-race favourite Shure Demise, who finished 22 seconds behind in second place. It was Degefa’s marathon debut. Both Tola and Debele won $200,000 for their stupendous show.

Degefa’s debut is the eleventh fastest marathon debut ever.

The top favourite in the men’s race, Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia got knocked out just halfway through the race. Speaking to reporters, Bekele’s  manager Jos Hermens said that Bekele was pushed from behind, fell, and injured his arm and calf right at the start of the race. Hermens also revealed that the gun went off at the start with no notice, which caused the crash.