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Defending champions Angela Tanui and Edwin Soi to return to Bogota Half Marathon

Tanui and Soi won last year’s edition of the Half Marathon in style, clocking 1:13:29 and 1:05:27 respectively.

Defending champions Angela Tanui and Edwin Soi will return to Colombia for the Bogota Half Marathon on Sunday, July 30.

Tanui and Soi won last year’s edition of the Half Marathon in style, clocking 1:13:29 and 1:05:27 in the women’s and men’s races respectively.

Soi is the fastest in the men’s field with a Personal Best time of 1:00:24 and he will be opening his season at the event. He will enjoy the company of compatriot Daniel Muteti who is also among the top entries.

On his part, Muteti will be lining up as the third fastest in the field and so far, this year, he has only participated in two Half Marathons. He opened his season with a 12th-place finish at the Nationale-Nederlanden Warsaw Half Marathon before winning the Cereales Angel Lima Half Marathon.

The Kenyan duo will face a stern test from Morocco’s Omar Ait Chitachen who will be lining up as the second fastest in the field. Chitachen has competed in three races so far. He opened his season with a 16th-place finish at the Osaka Marathon.

He then proceeded to the Xiamen Marathon where he finished third before winning the Rabat Half Marathon.

Another threat will come from Ethiopia’s Sisay Lemma. The 32-year-old Ethiopian has competed in two marathons so far this season. He started off with the Tokyo Marathon which he unfortunately did not finish and then later went for the Prague Marathon where he finished second.

In the women’s field, Tanui will be joined by compatriot Veronica Wanjiru who has also recorded good times over the 21km distance since the season started.

Wanjiru finished fourth and third at the Publix Atlanta Half Marathon and the San Blas Half Marathon respectively.

The Kenyan duo will be up against the Ethiopian duo of Zenebu Fikadu and Anchialem Haymanot who will be looking to give them a run for their money.

Hannover Marathon returns with focus on German championships

The HAJ Hannover Marathon will be back on Sunday after a two-year gap due to the Corona pandemic. Returning with its 30th edition the race will feature the German Marathon Championships. Because of uncertainties regarding the Covid 19 situation in the build-up organisers decided to focus on the national championships this year and to only allow a limited international elite field.

While Hendrik Pfeiffer and Rabea Schöneborn are the clear favourites in the race for the national title there might still be international overall winners. The HAJ Hannover Marathon is a World Athletics Label Road Race.

"It will be a very emotional return for all participants as well as for the organising team,“ said Race Director Stefanie Eichel.

“We are really happy to come back with this race and we are well aware about our responsibility under the current conditions. Our approach is to make sure that our participants feel good and safe during our event.“

Including events at other distances the organisers of the HAJ Hannover Marathon set a limit of 18,400 participants for this year. Close to 4,000 of them will run the classic distance.

A Mongolia runner heads the start list of the HAJ Hannover Marathon: Byambajav Tseveenravdan has a personal best of 2:09:03 from Oita (Japan) in 2020. While this remains his only sub 2:10 time he ran in the Olympic Marathon last summer and placed 55th. With this result Byambajav Tseveenravdan is in a similar performance range as Hendrik Pfeiffer, who was 50th in the tough Olympic race.

The German has a personal best of 2:10:18 from Sevilla in 2020, which makes him the clear favourite in the race for the German title on Sunday.

"My goal is to qualify for the European Championships in Munich and to run a personal best in Hannover. It is a nice and fast course and I look forward to enjoy the atmosphere with spectators back along the course,“ said Hendrik Pfeiffer. 

While Hendrik Pfeiffer is likely to run in a group that targets a half marathon split time of 65:30 a few Kenyan athletes might go much faster on Sunday. Daniel Muteti is the second fastest runner on the start list with a personal best of 2:09:25. He clocked this time in Cape Town in 2019.

However Daniel Muteti has not raced internationally in the past two years. It is a similar story with fellow-Kenyan Josphat Kiptis, who only competed once during this time. He will run his marathon debut on Sunday. While Josphat Kiptis features a promising half marathon PB of 60:21, he ran this back in 2015. 

Germany’s Rabea Schöneborn is not only the big favorite in the title race but additionally she is the fastest woman on the start list. The runner from Berlin improved to 2:27:03 last spring in Enschede, where she missed a place on the German Olympic team by just nine seconds.

It was her twin sister Deborah Schöneborn who qualified with a PB of 2:26:55 and then achieved a strong 18th place in the Olympic race. Looking at her sister’s family record Rabea Schöneborn said: “I want to run a personal best on Sunday and rectify this.“

There is one athlete who could be able to challenge Rabea Schöneborn in Hannover: Matea Parlov Kostro. The Croatian achieved a fine 21st place in the Olympic marathon in 2021 and has a personal best of 2:28:52. Matea Parlov Kostro’s aim will be to qualify for the European Championships on Sunday.

Kenyan Daniel Muteti will be back in action in Greece as he seeks his first win in 2019 at the Athens Marathon on Sunday

Muteti who clocked 2:09:25 in Cape Town is eyeing fast time in the old Greek city but will have to contend with compatriot Rhonzas Kilimo in the quest to break the Athens course record of 2:10:37 set by Felix Kandie back in 2014.

A record 20,000 runners will line up on a course that is almost identical to the one used for the 1896 Olympic marathon.

"The fact that I am running here in Athens where the marathon began is special motivation for me," said Daniel Muteti on Friday.

"I have enough motivation to go for a fast time and I believe the weather will be good for me so that I may attain my goal. I know it is a short time to run two marathons in the span of two months, but I believe I have the strength to withstand the pressure," Muteti said.

Kilimo will be making debut at the distance after a running a half marathon in a personal best time of 60:49 minutes last year.

"I always wanted to run the full distance and have been delaying it. But I believe Athens will be the perfect stage for me to make another mark in my career and win a first marathon," said Kilimo.

Also in the field are John Komen, now 42 and who ran his best of 2:07:13 in 2011, Dominic Kangor (2:09:36), Chalu Gelmisa (2:12:38) and Felicien Muhitira (2:10:58).

Organizers admit they have concentrated more on the men's field this year than the women's, so Eleftheria Petroulak (2:44:01) and Sonia Tsekini (2:45:02) are the favorites. There will be no women representation from Kenya.

Defending champion Brimin Misoi from Kenya leads elite field in Athens

Brimin Misoi, the Kenyan who made headlines with an emphatic victory last year, will take pride of place on the start line for the 37th edition of the “Athens Marathon. The Authentic” on Sunday, November 10.

In 2018 Misoi ran the third fastest time ever of 2:10:56 on the renowned, tough course from the coastal town of Marathon to the heart of Athens. He crossed the finish line in the Panathenaic Stadium, venue for the 1896 Olympic Games, almost two minutes clear of his nearest rival.

Retaining the title will prove no easy task despite the Kenyan improving his personal best to 2:09:31 in the Vienna City Marathon in April where he was sixth. His rivals will include compatriot Daniel Muteti, whose best of 2:09:25 in finishing second in the Cape Town Marathon was achieved in mid-September.

Adding historic lustre will be the 2004 Olympic champion Stefano Baldini. On his return to the original marathon course the Italian will be running as a “tourist” rather than elite competitor but his Olympic winning time of 2:10:55 was just one second faster than Brimin Misoi’s last year, further proof of the Kenyan’s quality.

The “Athens Marathon. The Authentic” has already broken records in the race build-up with participation limits in the marathon and parallel events now fully booked. A record total of more than 20,000 will run the marathon, a further 12,000 take part in the 10km road race and another 20,000 run the 5km Road Race ZERO WASTE FUTURE (by Coca-Cola), while total numbers of runners in all events has exceeded 60,000, another record. This festival of running is organized as in previous years by the Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS). For the first time the 10km road race will be held on Saturday evening in central Athens, rather than all the running events taking place on Sunday, another indication of the tremendous growth of interest in the past few years, including a steep rise in the international entry among mass runners. This year 12,000 runners from more than 120 countries will be represented among the 60,000 involved in total, making the Athens Marathon one of the most international races in the world.

One more record of the event is the attendance of the races at the 13th AIMS Marathon Symposium and the 7th Best Marathon Runners Awards Gala: Race directors and representatives of 80 international marathons from 45 countries will be present.

As for the race for top honors, Brimin Misoi has not raced since the Vienna City Marathon in April where he brought his personal best down to 2:09:31. A rival and fellow Kenyan who knows what it means to run at that level is Daniel Muteti, making his debut on the Athens course. As recently as September 15 he ran his best of 2:09:25 to finish second in Cape Town. He has had a busy year in marathon terms in general, having begun with 2:10:55 for fourth in Mumbai on January 20. Athens and its challenging, rolling hills then descent for the last 10km may test his powers of recovery. Rhonzas Kilimo of Kenya dropped out of his debut marathon in Hamburg in late April but the former steeplechaser finished second in the Berlin Half Marathon with 61:01, an indication of marathon promise, at least. Also known as Rhonzaz Lokitam he clocked a half marathon PB of 60:49 a year ago in Valencia. These runners and others have the potential to put Felix Kandie’s 2014 course record of 2:10:37under pressure.

One outcome already certain is that every marathon finisher in the Panathenaic Stadium will receive their own piece of history in the form of the inaugural medal depicting the history of the race. To be awarded over the next eight years, this debut finisher’s medal, aptly enough, portrays the Battle of Marathon where the legend of the lone Athenian soldier-messenger began.