NYRR Media Center

Mamitu Daska finished in an impressive third place in her TCS New York City Marathon debut last year, her third podium appearance in three trips to the Big Apple in 2017. She had already won the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K in April and finished as runner-up behind Mary Keitany at the NYRR New York Mini 10K in June.

In 2016, Daska won the Frankfurt Marathon in 2:25:27—her second title there, following her 2:21:59 victory from 2011. She also ran 1:09:01 for fourth place at the Houston Half-Marathon; in 2011, she won the full marathon in Houston in a time of 2:26:33.

Daska also placed third at the 2009 Berlin Marathon and fourth at the 2010 Bank of America Chicago Marathon and won the 2010 Dubai Marathon.

In addition to her three podium finishes in New York last year, Daska was the runner-up at the 2009 NYC Half, won the 2013 NYRR New York Mini 10K, and finished second at both the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K and Mini 10K in 2014. Also in 2014, she headed farther up the East Coast to set her best 10K road time  at the B.A.A. 10K in Boston, running 31:04 for the win.

Daska started running and was influenced by the many elite athletes who train in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She comes from the Oromo tribe, which has produced a long list of world-renowned  runners.