Henri Roos wins Tartu 63-kilometer marathon again
Henri Roos was the first to complete the full distance of the 50th edition of the Tartu Ski Marathon, closely followed by Marko Kilp and Lauri Lepisto from Finland.
Roos completed the 63-kilometer course in a time of 2:27:41.7, winning the legendary ski marathon for the second year in a row.
It was a narrow victory, however, as Marko Kilp finished just eight-tenths of a second slower than the winner. Lauri Lepistö finished third, again three tenths of a second behind Kilp.
The top three stayed together for most of the race and broke away from the group at the 12 kilometer mark. Lepistö dropped to 4.5 seconds at 46.6 kilometers, but by 53.5 kilometers the men were back within a second of each other.
Taavi Kaiv, who finished fourth, lost more than seven and a half minutes, while Andrus Veerpalu was fifth with a time of 7.33,2. Andrus Juursalu lost one second to Veerpalu, while Kalev Ermits (+10.40,6), Oleksandr Lisohor from Ukraine (+11.29,0), Mihhail Lukarchenko (+11.56,4) and Martin Nassar (+11.56,8) completed in the top 10.
In the women's long distance it was a triple victory for Estonia as Teesi Tuul crossed the finish line in a time of 2:53.04.3. As in the men's race, the gap was small: Merilin Jürisaar was only 0.2 seconds slower. Tatjana Mannima, the tireless runner-up, finished third, 19.1 seconds behind the winner. Tuul and Jürisaar finished 46th and 47th overall, while Mannima was 51st.
On Sunday, there will be another 31 km.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Kristjan Kallaste, Kristina Kersa
