5 records set in the 4th edition of the Matosinhos Half Marathon - number of participants, number of countries represented (30) and times broken in the men's, women's and wheelchair adapted races
Photos: MS / Runporto
During the morning of yesterday, May 7, the Leça da Palmeira waterfront once again hosted a great athletics event, as it was filled along its entire length with athletes who ran the Matosinhos Mar de Desporto Half Marathon and countless families who chose to celebrate "Mother's Day" in a healthy way by walking the 7 km Mini Marathon.
With a unique course, always with the Atlantic as a background, the initiative started at the Boa Nova lighthouse and passed through several landmarks such as the Ponte Móvel, Cabo do Mundo, among others, in a true Sea of Sports.
With an international elite of weight, the men's competition was characterized by the great dispute for the first place between the athletes. However, Josphat Mutula (Kenya) was the first athlete to reach the finish line, with the official time of 01:03:05, thus managing to beat Rui Pedro Silva's record in 2018, with 01:06:17. The men's podium would eventually be completed with Peter Wanjiru (Kenya) in second place with a time of 01:03:53: and in third place, Nuno Lopes, Portuguese athlete, with a time of 01:05:57.
Kawtar Boulaid was the big winner of the women's race, reaching the finish line with a time of 01:09:58. In second place was Maurine Jemutai (Kenya) who arrived with 01:10:51 and, in third place, Rafaela Fonseca, winner of the previous edition, finished the race with 01:14:54.
Last but not least, the record set by Pedro Sousa, athlete from Matosinhos, in the adapted sports race, and the participation of athletics teams from the municipality of Matosinhos, such as Juventude das Ribeiras and Bairro de Carcavelos, and the recently formed amateur team of CCD de Matosinhos, among many others. The event and prize-giving ceremony was attended by LuÃsa Salgueiro, Mayor of Matosinhos, Carlos Mouta and Vasco Pinho, vice-president and councillor for Sport of the Municipality, respectively, the latter responsible for the starting gun, Henrique Calisto, executive director of Matosinhos Sport, Jorge Teixeira, technical director of Runporto, Miguel Checa, CEO of Goldenergy, and Paulo Carvalho, president of the Union of Parishes of Matosinhos and Leça da Palmeira, among other personalities. Race Results