Benson Tunyo and Emmah Cheruto win the Zurich Maratón Donostia-San Sebastián 2023

– The Kenyan Tunyo, the first to cross the marathon finish line in the 45th Zurich Maratón San Sebastián, with a time of 02:12:14h.
– In the women’s category, the Kenyan Emmah Cheruto won with a time of 02:31:24h.
– 7,500 runners enjoyed the streets of the city in the 10k, 21k and marathon races.

The 45th edition of the Zurich Maratón Donostia – San Sebastián, the first of the Zurich Las 5 Grandes circuit, has been the great running event in San Sebastian this weekend. The organisers put up the SOLD OUT sign three weeks ago after selling out the 7,500 available numbers to run in an urban circuit that was cheered on by the locals from early in the morning.

In addition, the race has broken its record of 3,500 participants in the 42K queen distance and has had a 28% female participation and 44% of international participants from 60 different nationalities. With overcast skies, a temperature of 8ºC and no wind, more than 5,000 marathon and half-marathon participants took the start at 9am in Hernani Street. Half an hour earlier, at 8:30am, it was the turn of 2,000 participants in the 10K.

Tunyo and Cheruto win from start to finish
In the men’s category, Kenyan Benson Tunyo, the great favourite to win in Donostia, has led the elite of the Zurich Maratón San Sebastián 2023 during the 42 kilometres, to finally win the main event with a time of 02:12:14h, dropping off definitively at kilometre 40. A few seconds later, his compatriot Geoffrey Yego crossed the finish line of the blue carpet in 02:12:36h, as the second classified runner. And, surprisingly, the male podium was completed by the athlete from Gipuzkoa, Imanol Larrañaga, with a time of 02:19:15h, which also proclaims him champion of Gipuzkoa and Euskadi 2023 in this race.

In the women’s category, Emmah Cheruto also dominated the long distance of the race from the first kilometre, as her compatriot and the other great favourite, Leah Jerotich, abandoned the competition at kilometre 5. Cheruto crossed the finish line in 02:31:24h. 13 minutes later, the second classified, Esther Rodríguez Díaz (02:44:25h) and, almost a quarter of an hour later, the third fastest woman in the marathon, Mylène Da Costa Reis (02:46:38h), came in.

Winners of the 21k, the 10K and the Gipuzkoa Marathon Championship of the Zurich Maratón Donostia-San Sebastián 2023
In the 21k race, the winner was the American Reilly Bloomer, crossing the finish line in 01:07:16h, followed by Mario Sainz (01:08:33h) and David Rodríguez Rujula (01:09:12h), while the fastest runner in this distance for the second consecutive year was the French runner Fanny Tastet, who stopped the clock in 01:19:30h, improving her previous record by almost four minutes. She was joined on the women’s half-marathon podium by Lauren Marino (01:20:45h) and Sophie Pourcel (01:20:59h).

As for the 10K, the winner was the British John Sanderson (30:36′) and the winner was Maitane Melero from Pamplona (34:26′). Andoni Acebedo (30:39′) and Ander Sagarzazu (30:44′) completed the men’s podium in the short race, together with Onditz Iturbe (35:11′) and Eléonore Julier (35:48′) in the women’s category.

Likewise, the Zurich Maratón Donostia-San Sebastián 2023 has once again hosted the Gipuzkoa and Basque Country Marathon Championships, which has placed the athlete Imanol Larrañaga in first place and third overall, stopping the clock in 02:19:15h, followed by Francisco Javier Menta (02:23:58h) and Iñaki Jiménez (02:30:03h). In the women’s category, Miren Josune Bikuña won (03:13:57h), followed by Alazne Mujika (03:20:35h) and Ana Cruz Oyarzabal (03:31:18h).

ExpoSports and Gosaria Run
The day before the marathon, the Gosaria Run took place, a shared training session in which up to 200 participants, together with former world champion and former Olympic athlete Abel Antón, were able to run a 7km route along La Concha Beach. The Expo Sports (Runner’s Fair), located in the Kursaal Centre, brought together more than a dozen exhibitors and throughout the day thousands of runners came to collect their race bibs and runner’s bag.