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A battle of former winners expected at Sunday's Cardiff Half Marathon

The 20th edition Cardiff Half Marathon takes place on Sunday with strong fields assembled for the men's and women's races.

A battle of titans is expected at the 20th edition of the Cardiff Half Marathon scheduled for Sunday, October 1.

Shadrack Kimining leads the men’s field with a Personal Best time of 59:27 and will be returning to Cardiff looking to chase the course record. He has sweet memories of the event since it’s where he made his international debut with victory back in 2016.

His last trip to Cardiff came in 2019 where he lost out to Leonard Langat in the closing metres to finish second in 59:32.

Last year’s winner Geoffrey Koech (59:32) will also be returning, looking to better his winning time of 60:01. Koech has since won the prestigious Boston Half Marathon and more recently finished third at the Prague Half Marathon in April.

Benard Biwott (59:44) who won the Santa Pola Half Marathon and Wesley Kimutai (59:47) who finished second at the prestigious Rome Ostia Half Marathon in March will also be competing.

Challenging the Kenyan charge will be Hicham Amghar (59:53) of Morocco who will be looking to dip under the magical 60-minute barrier for a third time this year having finished fifth at Ras Al Khaimah in February with 59:53 and again in Istanbul finishing second in 59:58.

David Kimaiyo is an exciting debutant owing to his 10km best of 27:26 set at Castellon in February.

Bereket Zeleke (62:27) was fifth at the World U20 Cross Country Championships running for his native Ethiopia and made his debut for the distance in Antrim finishing 10th.

Further International interest sits with Morocco’s Omar El Harrass (61:55), Japan’s Takuya Kitasaki 61:51), and debutant Ben Eidenschink from the USA who was sixth at the US Cross Country Championships in 2022 and has a 10,000m best of 27:51.

Mestawut Fikir (66:44) of Ethiopia heads the start lists for the women’s race following her runaway victory at the Antrim Coast Half Marathon last month.

Her compatriot, Betelihem Afenigus (66:44) sits just two seconds slower on paper and won the popular Venlo Half Marathon earlier this year.

Challenging the Ethiopians will be defending champion Beatrice Cheserek (66:48) who will be familiar with the course and as a fierce competitor will be looking to retain her title on Sunday. So far this year Cheserek has won three half marathons, in Santa Pola, Riyadh and Tallinn.

Viola Chepngeno (66:48) was the runner-up last time and is another athlete who has been extremely busy over the last 12 months, along with Koech, also winning in Boston and lowering her P.B. for 10km to 31:05 in France this April.

Dorcas Kimeli (67:10) became the third fastest in history over 10km with 29:57 at the Birrell Grand Prix in Prague in 2019 and has previously raced in Cardiff back in 2017.

Costa Rican Record Holder for the Half Marathon and for the Marathon, Diana Bogantes-Gonzalez (73:08) will be in action in Cardiff, along with Marcela Joglova (73:46) of the Czech Republic.

Jenny Nesbitt (72:54) will head the Welsh contingent joined by Caryl Edwards (71:18), Anna Bracegirdle (73:21), Olivia Tsim (73:38), and Beth Kidger (76:27).

Further British Athletes of note include Olympian Sonia Samuels (72:19), Cambridge Half Marathon Champion Verity Hopkins (73:35), and Kirsteen Welch (74:42) of Exeter Harriers.

Josh Hartley (49:06) is the outstanding entry in the Men’s Wheelchair race, joined by 2018 Champion Tiaan Bosch (51:14) and multiple Cardiff winner Richie Powell. Martyna Snopek (63:02) is a previous winner of the Great North Run and will be racing in Cardiff on Sunday.

Dorcas Jepchirchir Tuitoek aims higher at Rome Ostia half marathon on Sunday

Dorcas Jepchirchir Tuitoek will be seeking another title in the Roma Ostia Half Marathon set for this Sunday in Rome, Italy.

Tuitoek has a personal best of 66:33, which she set at the 2019 Istanbul Half Marathon while finishing second.

The Atlanta Half Marathon champion is confident of a  podium finish as she seeks to lower her time in the Italian city.

“I am looking beyond this event because I want to use it as a springboard to one of the marathon major races later this year,” she said.

Tuitoek, who also won the Atlanta Half Marathon in 68:22, is optimistic of lowering her time as she prepares to venture into the full marathon," he added.

She said she is currently undergoing intensive training under Gianni Demadonna in Kapsabet and hopes to head to Rome with much fitness.

This will be her first race of the year on the road after competing in cross-country meetings across the country.

"I competed at the national cross country championships in Ruiru and I finished in position 12, which was good for me," she said.

In Rome, Tuitoek will be up against home girl Giovanna Epis among other top athletes.

The men's field will feature Kenya's Wesley Kibichii who has a personal best of 59:57 and Isaac Kemboi (60:11) among others.

However, the line-up includes top runners like Ethiopian Mogos Tuemay (60:11) and Italian citizen Danielle D’Onofrio (62:32). 

Kenyans Andrew Ben Kimutai and Cynthia Cherop are the favorites in Venice

Kenyan Andrew Ben Kimutai starts as the fastest runner in the men’s field at the 34th edition of the Hauwei Venice Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label road race on Sunday (27). The 30-year-old, who set his 2:08:32 personal best at the Seville Marathon in 2018, won this year's Wuhan Marathon in China in 2:10:06.

Kimutai will take on compatriot Geoffrey Yegon, who finished second at the Rome Ostia Half Marathon in 1:00:23 and has four sub-one hour half marathon runs to his credit. He clocked 59:56 at the Prague Half Marathon in 2018 and has a career best of 59:44 from 2016.

The men’s line-up also features Moses Mengich of Kenya, who was second at the Treviso Marathon in 2019 and Ethiopians Asefa Habtamu (2:08:32 in Dubai 2013) and Tsegaye Hiluf (PB 2:12:30 in Barcelona 2018).

The top Italian runner is Ahmed Nasef, who won the national marathon titles in 2016 and 2017.

The favorite in the women’s race is Kenya’s Cynthia Cherop, who clocked 2:25:55 on a slightly downhill course at the Los Angeles Marathon in March and finished runner-up at the Gothenburg Half Marathon setting her PB with 1:08:26 in May.

She'll face compatriots Judith Korir, winner at the Belgrade Marathon this year, and Jackline Autonyang, who will make her debut over the distance.

More than 13,000 runners are expected to take part in the Venice Marathon and the popular 10km mass race.

Haftamnesh Tesfay is expected to attack the 2:20 mark at Frankfurt Marathon

The 24-year-old Haftamnesh Tesfay made an impressive debut to her marathon career in Dubai this January with fifth place in 2:20:13, the fourth fastest time ever by a female marathon debutant.

That performance should whet the appetite for what she can do in Frankfurt. Two places behind Haftamnesh Tesfay in Dubai came another Ethiopian debutant, Dera Dida and her impressive showing also makes the 21-year-old’s appearance in Frankfurt highly anticipated following her 2:21:45 in the United Arab Emirates.

Tesfay and Dida were soon in action again and distinguished themselves at the prestigious Rome Ostia Half Marathon two months later. They dominated the Italian race, Tesfay winning in 69:02 and Dida runner-up, 19 seconds behind. Meskerem Assefa has had previous experience of the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon.

The 32-year-old from Ethiopia finished third in 2:24:38 last year. She made a solid improvement on her lifetime best in winning the Nagoya title in Japan in mid-March, running 2:21:45.

Another returning to the race beside the River Main is the American Sara Hall after her fifth place a year ago in 2:27:21. She improved further with 2:26:20 this spring for third place in Ottawa.

And no marathon would be complete without Kenyan presence with Nancy Kiprop, twice winner of the Vienna City Marathon title, running in Frankfurt. After winning Vienna last year she improved her best to 2:24:18 to retain the title this April.