Tesfay emerges champion at the Tata Mumbai Marathon 2025

Eritrean Berhane Tesfay emerged the champion of the men’s race at the 20th edition of the Tata Mumbai Marathon, a World Athletics Gold Label Road Race on Sunday.

Six men, including defending champion Lemi Berhanu, ran together in a bunch in most parts of the race. At the same time, pacer Timoty Kibet from Kenya pulled them to 27 km before
withdrawing at that stage.

After the 30K, Kenyan Philemon Rono and Lemi exchanged the lead briefly among themselves. After 35K, the runners realized that the event record was slipping away. Hence, only the top-place finish matters in their mind.

Ethiopian Tesfaye Demeke, who finished ninth in the 2020 edition here, snatched the lead when there were only 3 km left to finish. The other runners started chasing him.

Both Rono and Lemi started showing fatigue as two Eritreans, Berhane and Merhawi Kesete, increased their tempo and ran ahead of Demeke in the waning stages of the race.

Berhane Tesfay crossed the finish line first in 2:11:44, with team-mate Kesete taking the runner-up position six seconds later. Demeke completes the podium in 2:11:56.

Lemi, who logged back-to-back wins here in 2023-2024, finished sixth in a nondescript 2:14:54 and could not accomplish a hat trick of victories similar to Kenyan John Kelai, who
won in 2007-2008 and landed third place in 2009.

Tesfay said in a post-race interview, “I’m happy to have won today’s race.

‘The race’s first half went smoothly, and I stayed focused on keeping a steady pace. After 25K, my strategy shifted to securing the win rather than chasing a specific time. This victory means a lot to me, and it’s a testament to the hard work and training that has gone into preparing for this moment”.

The top three winners each took home prize money of USD 50,000, USD 25,000 and USD 15,000 respectively.