Amane Gobena, 31, won the L.A. Marathon that was held last Sunday. Gobena clocked in at 2:27:37 and received the $25,000 prize for the women’s race. She also finished 41 seconds ahead of Gebo Burka, a fellow Ethiopian, which added $50,000 to her winnings for the event’s gender challenge where the women started 17 minutes and 41 seconds ahead of the men.

The L.A. Marathon was the second marathon that Gobena ran in a span of two months. The first one was in Dubai last January 25, wherein she finished at 6^th place. The race in Dubai left Gobena determined to win the L.A. Marathon and the challenge bonus prize.

In an interview, Gobena said that the $75,000 prize was going towards a house that she is currently building. Burka, on the other hand, got $25,000 and dedicated his first win to his recently born son.

In the 29-year history of the L.A. Marathon, this is the second time that the Ethiopians garnered a sweep. The first sweep was in 2011 when Buzunesh Deba and Markos Geneti won for the women and men’s race. Gobena also mentioned in an interview that she encouraged other Ethiopians to “come forward” and do their best in the race.

This year’s L.A. Marathon had over 25,000 contestants who ran the course starting from the Dodger Stadium all the way to Santa Monica. The first ones to leave the starting line were the athletes in wheelchairs, followed by the elite women, and then the men.

Joshua George won the event for the men’s wheelchair race, clocking in at 1:33:11, and Susannah Sarconi won the women’s race event finishing at 1:54:54. Each of them received $2,500.

Of the 25,000 runners that participated in the race, around a thousand of them needed medical attention due to the heat that was recorded to be in the 70s by the time the race was finished.

Ethiopian runners

http://youtu.be/1U9ERaF0J0k

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