Deriba Merga
Deriba Merga on the way to winning the 2009 Boston Marathon near half way point in Wellesley.
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Native name | ደርባ መርጋ አጅጉ |
| Nationality | Ethiopian |
| Born | 26 October 1980 |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Running |
| Event(s) | Long distance |
Deriba Merga Ejigu (Amharic: ደርባ መርጋ አጅጉ?; born 26 October 1980) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He mainly competes in the marathon. He finished fourth in that event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and went on to win the Boston Marathon the following year. His personal best for the distance is 2:06:38 hours.
He also competes in half marathon races and his time of 59:14 minutes in 2008 was the fastest that year. He won the 2006 Paris Half Marathon and took the gold medal at the 2007 All-Africa Games a year later.
He was born in the Welega Province west of Addis Ababa and he headed to the capital in 2005 to pursue a running career after winning some regional races. Merga made his international debut in 2006, winning the Paris Half Marathon in a time of 60:45. Later that year, he finished sixth at the 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships, helping Ethiopia to a bronze medal in the team competition. In December that year he won the Montferland Run 15 km race in a course record time of 42:48. He took the half marathon gold medal at the 2007 All-Africa Games but just missed out on a medal at the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships, finishing in fourth place.
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