Kampala — Nicholas Kiprono will need more luck to win a race on the international circuit. On a day when he looked good to bag a major victory, the Ugandan road runner was eluded by luck.

Kiprono was credited with 42:14 minutes - the same time with gold medalist Sileshi Sihine - but the Ugandan had to settle for second in the Zevenheuvelenloop 15Km race in Nijmegen, Netherlands at the weekend.

"It's hard to explain how I lost," Kiprono told Daily Monitor via email. "But I was impressed with my running," he added. A vastly talented but injury-prone runner, Kiprono represented Uganda at the August World Championships in Berlin but dropped out of the marathon.

Kiprono

In Netherlands, he was seeking to make a perfect comeback to racing. He did exactly that and had the race in perfect control until the home stretch when Ethiopian Sihine made a strong dash to win gold in a photo finish.

Former two-time Olympic 10000m silver medallist Sihine is also on a comeback trail having skipped the World Championships.

Another Ugandan Stephen Kiproitich finished fifth in the race, clocking 44:07. The duo of Kiprono and Kiproitich will now skip this weekend's MTN Kampala marathon due to fatigue. "I want to rest for four days before resuming training," Kiprono explained.

"My aim is to run 59 minutes in half marathon next year."

15km (men) results

Sileshi Sihine (ETH) 42:14

Nicholas Kiprono (UGA) 42:14

Abraham Rotich (KEN) 43:04

Ayele Abshiro (ETH) 43:10

Stephen Kiprotich (UGA) 44:07

Women

Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) 46:28

Bezunesh Bekele (ETH) 47:48

T. Holovchenko (UKR) 50:33