Ethiopia dominates Dubai Marathon: Worknesh Degefa continues great form on record-breaking day


The National

Ethiopians dominated the field once again at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on Friday.

Worknesh Degefa continued her great form in Dubai as she clinched the women’s title with a time of 2:19.37, while in the men’s section Olika Adugna Bikila emerged victorious with a time of 2:06.15 in a strong field featuring major city marathon winners and athletes with more than 35 international wins between them.

Degefa was in her elements at her favourite hunting ground. The 29-year-old set a personal best while finishing second last year. Before that, Degefa won in 2017 and finished fourth a year later in Dubai. On Friday, Degefa made an aggressive start before settling in for a comfortable win by 33 seconds.

The men's section saw a thrilling finale as 11 runners finished the marathon with a time of two hours and six minutes. It was the most in any marathon in history, according to letsrun.com.

All top 11 runners ran in a packed lead bunch and it was Bikila who secured victory and the winner’s cheque of $100,000 (Dh367,000).

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Celta Vigo 2
Castro (45'), Aspas (82')

Barcelona 2
Dembele (36'), Alcacer (64')

Red card: Sergi Roberto (Barcelona)

Stuck in a job without a pay rise? Here's what to do

Chris Greaves, the managing director of Hays Gulf Region, says those without a pay rise for an extended period must start asking questions – both of themselves and their employer.

“First, are they happy with that or do they want more?” he says. “Job-seeking is a time-consuming, frustrating and long-winded affair so are they prepared to put themselves through that rigmarole? Before they consider that, they must ask their employer what is happening.”

Most employees bring up pay rise queries at their annual performance appraisal and find out what the company has in store for them from a career perspective.

Those with no formal appraisal system, Mr Greaves says, should ask HR or their line manager for an assessment.

“You want to find out how they value your contribution and where your job could go,” he says. “You’ve got to be brave enough to ask some questions and if you don’t like the answers then you have to develop a strategy or change jobs if you are prepared to go through the job-seeking process.”

For those that do reach the salary negotiation with their current employer, Mr Greaves says there is no point in asking for less than 5 per cent.

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5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

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Director: Neill Blomkamp

Stars: David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe, Darren Barnet

Rating: 3/5

MATCH INFO

Day 2 at the Gabba

Australia 312-1 

Warner 151 not out, Burns 97,  Labuschagne 55 not out

Pakistan 240 

Shafiq 76, Starc 4-52

How champions are made

Diet
7am - Protein shake with oats and fruits
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7. UAE
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9. Netherlands
10. Norway

Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?

The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.

Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.

New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.

“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.

The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.

The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.

Bloomberg

Brief scoreline:

Tottenham 1

Son 78'

Manchester City 0

MATCH INFO

CAF Champions League semi-finals first-leg fixtures

Tuesday:

Primeiro Agosto (ANG) v Esperance (TUN) (8pm UAE)
Al Ahly (EGY) v Entente Setif (ALG) (11PM)

Second legs:

October 23

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