Bezunesh Deba Dejene

Bezunesh Deba switched to road running early in her career. At the age of 20 she was already competing successfully on the US road running circuit. In 2009 she moved to New York and since then lives in the Bronx.

The Ethiopian ran her marathon debut in the same year, winning in Moline (Illinois) with 2:44:22. Just five weeks later she competed in New York finishing seventh in 2:35:54 and then took the Sacramento Marathon a month later with 2:32:17. When she took a more professional approach with less races, Deba had huge success between 2011 and 2015.

After finishing runner-up twice in the New York Marathon, she achieved her biggest career victory in Boston in 2014. Originally, she had been second, but Kenya’s winner Rita Jeptoo was disqualified. Deba’s winning time of 2:19:59 still stands as Boston’s course record today. Less successful in recent years, the Ethiopian will hope to reignite her marathon career in Dubai.

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