With the Tom Scott Road Races behind us last weekend, all eyes were set on the main event this weekend with Shettleston’s very own Weynay Ghebresilasie running as part of a star studded line up which included Leul Gebresilase of Ethiopia and Euben Kiprop Kipyego of Kenya. For context, the Rotterdam Marathon itself is part of the 2022 World Athletics Elite Label road race series and is therefore a high calibre race.

I understand the race started fast and soon formed a group of 10 athletes which included Weynay which then eventually cut further down to just 4 runners at the 40km marker with Nageeye of Netherlands taking victory in a time of 2:04:56. Weynay finished in a superb time of 2.12.17 which is a club record and a huge congratulations from all the members from Shettleston Harriers for this amazing achievement.

Many of us will remember another Shettleston club member, Tsegai Tewelde who completed the 2016 London Marathon in 2:12:57 which at the time set the club record for the marathon and also qualified Tsegai for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Injuries sadly impacted Tsegai’s potential.

So the road to this moment has been difficult for Weynay with injuries and chest infections to name a few. And of course the marathon distance, as many of us already know is a tricky discipline where everything needs to be perfect on the day and even then, things can still go wrong during the race.

Finally it can be fair to say that no athlete can achieve their goal on their own, with John Mackay offering his support along the way and will be equally delighted to see that everything went to plan on the day.

Below is a link to the marathon splits (every impressive) and a photo of John Mackay and Weynay together after the race in Rotterdam.

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