Running News Daily

Kipchoge clocks world-leading 2:04:30 in Enschede

Eliud Kipchoge waited until the final 30 minutes of the NN Mission Marathon to make his winning move as the Kenyan great kicked on to win the World Athletics Label road race in 2:04:30 at Twente Airport in Enschede on Sunday (18).

The Olympic champion had little to prove; his place on Kenya’s team for Tokyo had already been confirmed, as has his status as one of the all-time greats. But following a rare defeat at the London Marathon last year, the world record-holder was keen to produce a confidence-boosting performance ahead of the Olympic Games.

He did exactly that on Sunday, despite having to contend with some late changes to the race plans as the event had originally been set for 11 April in Hamburg.

Unlike many of Kipchoge’s previous marathon races, today’s event was never intended as an opportunity to chase record times. Nevertheless, the pace was swift as a lead group of four reached 15km in 43:46, just outside 2:03 pace.

After going through half way in 1:01:43, with Kipchoge running alongside pacemakers Philemon Kacheran and Jonathan Korir, the pace settled in the second half with each five-kilometre segment being covered in just outside 14:50.

By the time Kipchoge and the pacing duo reached 30km in 1:28:10, the chase pack was more than two minutes adrift but still on course for Olympic qualifying times. Shortly after, with 1:35 on the clock, Kipchoge left his pacemakers behind.

His tempo didn’t actually increase in the closing stages, but he maintained his sub-three-minute kilometre pace, which brought him to the finish line in a world-leading 2:04:30.

Korir held on for second place in 2:06:40 with Eritrea’s Goitom Kifle coming through to take third in 2:08:07. A little further behind, Uganda’s 2012 Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich placed fifth in 2:09:04.

“Mission accomplished,” said Kipchoge. “The conditions were really good, a bit windy, but I had no complaints. The race was perfect. This was the real test towards Tokyo. It’s good to have a marathon a few months before the Olympics to test my fitness.”

The leading contenders in the women’s race were paced by a small group of men, reaching 10km in 34:39 and half way in 1:12:58. Kenya’s Gladys Chesir, Sweden’s Hanna Lindholm and German duo Laura Hottenrott and Katharina Steinruck were all still in contention at this point, but Lindholm started to fade as they embarked on the second half.

Chesir was next to drop back, doing so after about 90 minutes of running, leaving Steinruck and Hottenrott as the lead duo. Steinruck (nee Heinig) began to edge ahead of her domestic rival in the final seven kilometres and the race was finally decided.

Steinruck reached the finish line in 2:25:59, elevating her to sixth on the German all-time list, just three places and 84 seconds adrift of her mother, Katrin Dorre-Heinig, the 1988 Olympic bronze medallist.

Portugal’s Sara Moreira finished strongly to take second place in 2:26:42 with Germany’s Rabea Schoneborn placing third in 2:27:03.

Eliud Kipchoge looks forward to ‘beautiful race’ at NN Mission Marathon

Twente Airport in the Netherlands on Sunday will see the Kenyan stretch his legs over 26.2 miles ahead of the defence of his Olympic title in Tokyo

Over the years the Twente Airport near the city of Enschede in the eastern Netherlands has been used by famous airplanes such as the Hawker Hunter and Gloster Meteor. But on Sunday (April 18) the world marathon record-holder Eliud Kipchoge will take to the runway in the NN Mission Marathon.

The airport course was chosen after the original venue of Hamburg was ruled out due to the pandemic. It will be Kipchoge’s first race since he finished a disappointing eighth in the London Marathon in October and he is looking forward to getting back to winning ways.

“Sunday, personally, I will be running a very beautiful race,” he said in a pre-race press conference. “I call it beautiful because we are in need and tough times during the pandemic.

“I want to run a beautiful race to show the world that actually we are on a huge, huge transition towards a great future.”

Kipchoge, 36, will tackle an eight-lap, spectator-free course and his rivals include 2012 Olympic marathon champion Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda, who has a PB of 2:06:33.

Laban Korir of Kenya is also in the field and has a best of 2:05:54, while Filex Chemonges holds the Ugandan record with 2:05:12.

In addition, Augustine Choge, the 2006 Commonwealth 5000m champion, is hoping to complete his first marathon after DNF’ing in Chicago in 2018.

In total around 50 athletes from 20 different countries will be attempting to gain the Olympic qualifying standards of 2:11:30 for men and 2:29:30 for women in an event organisers have dubbed ‘the fastest way to Tokyo’.

In the women’s race, former New York Marathon podium finisher Sara Moreira of Portugal takes on Kenyan Gladys Chesir. Moreira’s PB of 2:24:49 is slightly quicker than Chesir’s, although the fastest woman in the race is Mexican Madai Perez, who has a best of 2:22:59 but is now aged 41.

The race begins 8.30am (local time) and is due to be shown on the BBC website for fans in UK and Ireland.

So, can Kipchoge return to his best form? Was his defeat in London part of a decline or merely a blip? His sub-two-hour marathon in Vienna unfolded in autumn 2019 but in London five months ago he finished eighth in 2:06:49 in a race won by Shura Kitata. Later he blamed an ear blockage for his under-par run.

World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge travels to Netherlands for NN Marathon

World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge will compete in the NN Mission Marathon in Dutch city of Enschede on Sunday.

“NN Mission Marathon will go ahead as planned on April 18 and will be moved from Hamburg to Enschede, The Netherlands, on the specially designed course on Twente Airport which will be closed for general audience,”  race organisers said yesterday in a statement.

The race which was initially planned for April 11, was pushed forward by a week due to Covid-19 restrictions in Hamburg.

And on Tuesday, Kenyan competitors started their journey to Nairobi from Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County via road due to Covid-19 restrictions which have forced suspension of local flights. In Nairobi, the athletes boarded the KLM Airlines flight and were expected in Enschede at 7.00am.

Another group of pacemakers will leave Kenya on Thursday for Enschede.

Kipchoge will be joined by up to 70 elite athletes who are seeking to qualify for the 2020 Olympics Games. The notable athletes include 2012 Olympics Games marathon champion Stephen Kiprotich from Uganda, his training mates Laban Korir and Jonathan Korir, Uganda’s Filex Chemonges,  and Ethiopia’s Tadese Abraham.

Kiprotich, who used to train with Kipchoge at the Global Sports Communication camp in Kaptagat but has since changed his training to Kapchorua in Uganda, said his focus is to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

“The virus has really demoralised many athletes because even if they train, where are they going to compete? I have trained well and my focus now is to qualify for the Olympics Games and join my compatriot Fred Musoba who has already qualified,” revealed Kiprotich.

Gerda Steyn sets South African marathon record in Siena, Italy

Eighty runners lined up in Siena, Italy, on Sunday morning to race the Xiamen Marathon, an elite-only event that marked one of the final opportunities to qualify for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. Kenyans Eric Kiptanui and Angela Tanui took the wins in PBs of 2:05:47 and 2:20:08, and South Africa’s Gerda Steyn set a national marathon record of 2:25:28. In his first race in more than a year, Canada’s Reid Coolsaet finished well off the Olympic standard of 2:11:30, crossing the line in 2:16:38.

Kiptanui won the race by 10 seconds, edging out Ethiopia’s Abdi Fufa for first place. He bettered his PB by 30 seconds, improving on a 2:06:17 showing from his marathon debut in Dubai in 2020. His result is the second-fastest ever run on Italian soil, a minute off the all-comers record set by his fellow Kenyan Titus Ekiru at a race in Milan in 2019, which he won in 2:04:46. 

While Kiptanui fell short of the Italian all-comers record, Tanui did not, and her 2:20:08 winning time lowered the mark of 2:22:25, which Kenya’s Vivian Kiplagat also set in Milan in 2019. Unlike in the men’s race, which was relatively close, the women’s race saw a big gap between first and second place, with Tanui crossing the line more than two and a half minutes ahead of the next-closest runner. On top of setting the Italian all-comers record, Tanui also lowered her own PB by a whopping five minutes. 

In recent years, Steyn has proven to be one of the best runners in South African history. She set the Comrades Marathon up-run course record in 2019, becoming the first woman to break six hours in the storied event with her 5:58:53 winning time. That same year, she ran to an 11th-place finish at the New York City Marathon (a race less than half the distance of the 87K Comrades Marathon), running 2:27:48.

In 2020, Steyn ran to a seventh-place finish at the elite-only London Marathon, where she posted a new PB of 2:26:51, which was the second-fastest marathon result in South African history. This year, she was set to run the NN Mission Marathon, but her plans changed when the event was pushed from April 11 to April 18 and moved from Germany to the Netherlands. 

Fortunately, the Xiamen Marathon accepted her on short notice, and she ran a new South African marathon record of 2:25:28. She looked to have great chances of being named to the South African team headed to the Tokyo Olympics before Sunday’s race, but with her result in Italy, she has likely officially booked her ticket to the Summer Games. 

Tanui breaks Italian all-comers' record in Siena

Kenya’s Angela Tanui and Eric Kiptanui claimed victory at the Xiamen Marathon and Tuscany Camp Global Elite Race in Siena on Sunday (11), with Tanui breaking the Italian all-comers' record with 2:20:08 at the specially-organised elite-only event.

Held as an opportunity for athletes to achieve qualifying marks for the Olympic Games in Tokyo – with co-operation from the Italian Athletics Federation, World Athletics and the Xiamen Marathon, which was unable to welcome overseas entrants to race this weekend due to pandemic restrictions – the event saw athletes race on a roughly 5km loop course around the roads of the Siena-Ampugnano Airport.

Despite the rain and wind, 2018 Venice Marathon winner Tanui took more than five minutes off her PB to improve the Italian all-comers' best which had previously been Vivian Kiplagat’s 2:22:25 set in Milan in 2019.

Kiptanui achieved the second-quickest men’s time ever run on Italian soil, clocking 2:05:47 to improve on his previous best of 2:06:17 run in Dubai in 2020. Only Titus Ekiru with 2:04:46, also run in Milan in 2019, has gone quicker for the distance in Italy.

A group of 13 athletes featured in the lead women’s group which passed 4850m in 16:24 and the pack remained 12 strong by 14,910m, passed in 50:18.

Ethiopia’s Rahma Tusa, Gebiyanesh Gedamu and Haven Hailu Desse were among those to the fore along with Tanui at halfway, with the 22,470m mark passed by that lead group in 1:15:19.

By 30km a group of four athletes was breaking away, with Tanui joined by her fellow Kenyans Gladys Chepkirui and Delvine Meringor, plus Gedamu. Tanui made a break and continued to move ahead over the final 10km, eventually winning by more than two-and-a-half minutes from her compatriot Purity Changwony, who came through to finish second in a PB of 2:22:46. Gedamu was third in 2:23:23 and Desse fourth in 2:23:52 as the top six went sub-2:25.

South Africa’s Gerda Steyn improved her PB to 2:25:28 in ninth, while 2013 world silver medallist Valeria Straneo was the top Italian in 20th and finished a minute outside the Olympic qualifying time with 2:30:33.

In the men’s race, a large group of 37 athletes went through 4850m in 14:23 and 26 were together at halfway, with 22,470m passed in 1:06:42.

The leaders hit 30km in 1:29:38 before Kiptanui and Ethiopia's Abdi Fufa Nigassa made a move with less than 5km remaining.

Kiptanui – the 2020 Dubai Marathon runner-up – kicked ahead to win by 10 seconds from Nigassa with 2:05:57, as Morocco’s Othmane El Goumri improved his PB to 2:06:18 in third. Yohanes Ghebregergis of Eritrea finished fourth in 2:06:28 and Ethiopia’s Wami Kebede Tulu fifth in 2:06:32 as nine athletes finished inside 2:07 and 20 went sub-2:09.

Germany’s Richard Ringer took more than two minutes off his PB with 2:08:49 to finish 17th, while Italy’s Stefano La Rosa was 30th in 2:11:42, just 12 seconds outside of the Olympic qualifying mark.

Kenyan Emmanuel Naibei wins Lagos City Marathon

Naibei ensured Kenya’s dominance when he won the race in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 37 seconds, beating a field of 300 athletes in the Nigerian capital on Saturday.

Naibei, who finished second at the 2019 Guangzhou Marathon where he set his current Personal Best time of 2:08:27, edged out the Ethiopian duo of  Deresa Geleta and Demiso Gudeta who finished second and third respectively, for victory.

Naibei walked home with the winner's purse of US$ 30,000 (Sh3.2 million) while Geleta and Gudeta went home with $20,000 (Sh2.1 million) and $15,000 (Sh1.6 million) respectively.

This was the fourth time a Kenyan is winning the men’s race in Lagos.

Last year, Kenya’s David Barmasai Tumo won the fifth edition of the marathon in a course record time of 2:10:22 as Sharon Cherop went for the women’s crown in a course record time of 2:31:40, dethroning Ethiopian Meseret Dinke.

However, Dinke was on top of her game this time around to reclaim the title in 2:32:16, beating Kenya’s Celestine Jepchirchir to second place.

Third place went to Desta Muluneh from Ethiopia.

Briton Hutchings calls for records reset for high-tech shoes era

World Athletics should introduce a new set of records for times set by athletes wearing high-tech footwear, said British Olympian Tim Hutchings, as debate continues over whether the shoes give runners an unfair advantage.

Footwear developed by Nike played a role in two of the biggest distance-running achievements of 2019, with Eliud Kipchoge’s sub-two-hour marathon in Vienna and Brigid Kosgei’s record-breaking run at the Chicago Marathon bringing the Vaporfly shoes into the spotlight.

While World Athletics banned the shoes from professional sport last year, Nike has launched a new version of its Alphafly footwear that complies with new rules introduced by the governing body.

"People from many quarters are saying stop fussing about the shoes. Just move on and enjoy the racing. To which I'd respond, I've always enjoyed the racing and will continue to," Hutchings told The Times here.

“But I want to enjoy and respect times as well, not just cast aside that element. A reset would enable this. The shoes are here to stay, sadly the genie is out of the bottle.”

Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich shaved 29 seconds off the world half marathon record on Sunday and British triathlete Beth Potter is awaiting ratification of a world record time from a low-key 5km road race a day earlier.

Both athletes wore high-tech footwear made by different manufacturers.

“Let folk race and record new era personal bests,” said Hutchings, who finished fourth in the 5,000m at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

“A date needs to be identified retrospectively, then everyone would respect times in the right context. Athletes deserve that.”

NN Running has announced its elite field for Mission Marathon

Set to run in the Netherlands on April 18, Eliud Kipchoge will headline the race of about 60 athletes.

The fields for the NN Mission Marathon have been released, and the world finally knows who will toe the start line with Eliud Kipchoge. The races are set to be run in Enschede, the Netherlands, on April 18, and fields of 23 women and 35 men will line up to compete. Kipchoge is the clear favourite for the win, but second place in the men’s race and first place in the women’s are both anybody’s to claim, which will make for a couple of exciting and dramatic competitions.

The men’s race

In the men’s race, the pre-race seed times aren’t even close, and there’s really no debate as to who is most likely to win. Kipchoge owns the world record in the marathon with his PB of 2:01:39, and he has also run an unofficial record of 1:59:40. While many of the other runners racing the NN Mission Marathon are looking to qualify for the Tokyo Games or prove that they deserve to be chosen for their national Olympic teams, Kipchoge has a simpler and less stressful reason to run: he needs to bounce back from his poor race at the London Marathon last fall.

He’s still a heavy favourite heading into the Tokyo Games, but his poor 2:06:49 showing in October proved that he is human, and for the first time in years, his competitors might seriously believe they have a chance to beat him. A great race in the Netherlands can boost Kipchoge’s confidence while also knocking down that of his rivals ahead of the Olympics.

The next fastest PB in the men’s field belongs to Felix Chemonges, who owns the Ugandan national marathon record of 2:05:12 (which he ran at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2019). Chemonges hasn’t raced since March 2020, though, and his last result was a sub-par 2:10:08 run at the Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan.

Only one other man in the field, Kenya’s Laban Korir, has run a sub-2:06 marathon in his career, and his 2:05:54 PB puts him at third-best in the men’s race. Out of the 35 men set to race the NN Mission Marathon, 17 have run faster than the Olympic standard of 2:11:30, and 11 runners from that group have broken 2:10.

It’d be safe to bet on Kipchoge for the overall win in the Netherlands, but with so many other runners hovering around the same seed times, the battle for second and third place — plus the mad dash to cross the finish before the clock hits 2:11:30 — will produce must-watch coverage.

The women’s race has the potential to be much more competitive than the men’s when it comes to the overall win. Mexican marathon record holder Madai Perez has the fastest PB of any of the women in the field. The only thing is that she ran her national record of 2:22:59 all the way back in 2006, and the last time she broke 2:30 came in Chicago in 2017, when she ran 2:24:44. She certainly could take the win in the Netherlands, but her seed time is a bit misleading considering how long ago she ran it.

Next up are Jessica Augusto and Sara Moreira, a couple of Portuguese runners. Augusto owns a PB of 2:24:25, just ahead of Moreira’s career best of 2:24:49. Both of these women have posted tremendous times in the past, but neither has completed a marathon in recent years. Augusto’s last finish came in 2017, and she has one DNF since then.

Moreira has had an even worse few years, and her last finish came in 2015. Since then, she has DNFed three times, including in the marathon at the Rio Olympics. In 2015, though, she placed second at the Prague Marathon and fourth at the New York City Marathon. The next athlete on the start list is Kenya’s Gladys Chesir, who has a PB of 2:24:51, but like her Portuguese competitors, she hasn’t completed a marathon in years, and her last official finish was in 2017.

In total, nine of the 23 women in the field have beaten the Olympic standard of 2:29:30, with several others knocking at the door of sub-2:30 results. Like the men’s race, the women’s run should be an exciting affair, and it’s an event no running fan will want to miss.

Kibiwott Kandie´s training camp routine is three times a day

The first run is at 6am, and I might do 20km at a good pace. At 10am, I’ll do another 8km, plus some exercises. In the afternoon, around 4pm, I’ll usually do an easy 10km.

That’s my routine during training camp, in Ngong or Iten, and while it may seem like a lot, I've been covering long distances ever since I was a kid.

I grew up in Baringo County, western Kenya. My mother was a farmer, my father worked for the Ministry of Water, and when I was young I spent my days on my feet. Maybe it was chasing goats or cows around the farm or in the local forest, or maybe it was going to and from school, which was 7km away. I’d make that journey four times a day, coming back in the middle to take lunch at home. I’d run a bit, walk a bit, run a bit, walk a bit.

I started doing cross country races while at school, and I wasn't successful in the beginning. But I told myself, one day, I have to win.

As a kid, I used to set myself the goal to run from here to there, and I'd get great satisfaction when I’d be able to do it. That was where the habit started, how I first learned to love athletics.

Growing up, a name I heard all the time was Paul Tergat. He was from an area not far from me so my goal was to grow up and be like him.

I finished school in 2015 and, at that point, my parents told me to go for higher education, but my mind was made up. I wanted to run full-time, and I convinced them to allow me to give it a go.  For the last four years I’ve also been working with the military, a job that supports life as a high-level athlete.

My first coach was John Korir, who’s based in Ngong, but since last year I’ve spent a lot of time in Iten, training with coach Joseph Cheromei. On a normal week, I'll do 170-180km.

When things started to shut down last year due to the pandemic, I accepted what was happening, that this was nature and we couldn’t blame anyone. I kept training, but not as hard. I did my morning run as normal, and once in a while I did speed work, but I eased back and didn’t do the usual three times a day.

I told myself, be patient, sometime soon everything will be well and sports will be back.

That happened last autumn, and my big goal then was the World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland. My training had been really good so my aim was to win gold, but in the race I quickly realised many others were very strong, too, so I changed it to getting a medal.

My big goal is to make the Kenyan team over 10,000m for the Tokyo Olympics, and everything will be focused on that until the summer.

Looking beyond that, my mind is already starting to think about the marathon. It will be a big challenge, trying to move up to double the distance, but I’d like to prepare for one in the autumn and see how good I can be.

Long-term, that's my big goal in this sport. I want to do what Paul Tergat did, and make history in the marathon.

NN Mission Marathon has confirmed Netherlands as new location

The NN Running Team announced on Tuesday that the NN Mission Marathon has been relocated to Enschede, the Netherlands. The race, which organizers postponed on March 31, will take place on April 18, one week later than it was originally set to be run.

The event will feature about 70 athletes, including marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge, who will be looking to use the race as a chance to test his fitness ahead of this summer’s Tokyo Olympics.

The original plan for the NN Mission Marathon was announced in February, and organizers hoped to hold it in Hamburg. That plan fell apart in late March, when COVID-19 restrictions changed in Germany, ultimately making it impossible to hold any race in Hamburg in the coming weeks. 

The NN Running Team announced the postponement and relocation of the Mission Marathon just over a week before the race date of April 11. The event was only pushed one week, which didn’t give event organizers much time to find a new host city for the race.

It turns out that they needed less than a week to do so, though, as the NN Running Team announced the official change of venue on Tuesday. The race will now take place at Twente Airport, which is about 12K outside of Enschede. 

The NN Running Team’s postponement announcement likely created a lot of stress for many of the runners set to race the Mission Marathon. The event, after all, was organized specifically for athletes looking to hit Olympic standard in the marathon ahead of the Tokyo Games. With so few racing opportunities on the calendar, this could be the last chance for a lot of athletes to qualify for Tokyo, and when the race was rescheduled, these runners probably began to scramble as they searched for a backup event in case the postponement turned into an outright cancellation. 

Kipchoge is already a lock for the Kenyan Olympic team, and he will be one of the favorites to win gold in the marathon this summer. Even so, he, too, probably breathed a sigh of relief when it was announced that the race can officially go ahead in the Netherlands, as there is still a lot riding on this race for him.

He doesn’t need to perform well to guarantee his ticket to Tokyo, but a good run at the Mission Marathon can silence any doubters who think he is past his prime. 

Luckily for Kipchoge and the many Olympic hopefuls slated to run the Mission Marathon, the race is good to go in its new home in the Netherlands. It will be can’t-miss action on April 18, and seeing as there is so much on the line for these athletes, dramatic runs can certainly be expected. 

British Olympian Tim Hutchings calls for records reset in hi-tech shoes era

World Athletics should introduce a new set of records for times set by athletes wearing high-tech footwear, said British Olympian Tim Hutchings, as debate continues over whether the shoes give runners an unfair advantage. 

Footwear developed by Nike played a role in two of the biggest distance-running achievements of 2019, with Eliud Kipchoge's sub-two-hour marathon in Vienna and Brigid Kosgei's record-breaking run at the Chicago Marathon bringing the Vaporfly shoes into the spotlight. 

While World Athletics banned the shoes from professional sport last year, Nike has launched a new version of its Alphafly footwear that complies with new rules introduced by the governing body. 

"People from many quarters are saying stop fussing about the shoes. Just move on and enjoy the racing. To which I'd respond, I've always enjoyed the racing and will continue to," Hutchings told The Times. 

"But I want to enjoy and respect times as well, not just cast aside that element. A reset would enable this. The shoes are here to stay, sadly the genie is out of the bottle." 

Kenya's Ruth Chepngetich shaved 29 seconds off the world half marathon record on Sunday and British triathlete Beth Potter is awaiting ratification of a world record time from a low-key 5km road race a day earlier. 

Both athletes wore high-tech footwear made by different manufacturers. 

"Let folk race and record new era personal bests," said Hutchings, who finished fourth in the 5,000m at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. 

"A date needs to be identified retrospectively, then everyone would respect times in the right context. Athletes deserve that." 

2016 Scotland’s Olympian Beth Potter breaks 5K world record with 14:41 run in Great Britain

Scottish runner-turned-triathlete Beth Potter beat the 5K road world record on Saturday at a race in Barrowford, U.K., about an hour north of Manchester, where she ran an amazing 14:41. Organizers of the race, which is called the Podium 5K, say their course is the fastest in Great Britain, and Potter’s run certainly bolsters that claim.

Potter bettered the previous world record of 14:43 (which Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech set in Monaco in February) by two seconds. 

According to fastrunning.com, Potter missed the start of the women’s race, but she was luckily permitted to run in the ‘B’ wave of the men’s event. While missing the start of a race is a nightmare that haunts all runners, this actually might have helped Potter, as she had other 14:40-range athletes to run with who could push her right to the finish.

She very well could have beaten the record had she run with the women’s field, but having constant competition no doubt helped her mentally. When Potter crossed the finish line, she was visibly surprised to see the clock.

Potter’s time beat Chepkoech’s world record by two seconds and Paula Radcliffe‘s British 5K record of 14:51 by 10 seconds. She also smashed her own 5K PB of 15:24 — a time she ran at the same race in Barrowford last year. 

It is important to note that, while Potter bettered the world record (a result that World Athletics reported is unlikely to be ratified), one woman has run a road 5K faster. In September 2017, Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei ran a 14:32 5K split en route to the 10K world record at a race in Prague. At the time, though, World Athletics (then IAAF) did not recognize the 5K as a world record event, and even though Jepkosgei’s run is the fastest in history, it’s not the official world record. 

In no way does this diminish Potter’s result, and regardless of whether her run is ratified as the world record, she officially owns one of the fastest 5K runs in history. 

ASICS Metaspeed 

Not only did Potter’s record support the claim made by race organizers that their course is the fastest in the U.K., but it is also great for ASICS, her main sponsor, as she wore the company’s new shoe — the Metaspeed Sky — in her win.

The Metaspeed is the latest carbon-plated shoe from ASICS, and it’s the company’s response to Nike in the “super shoe” race. ASICS only just released the Metaspeed at the end of March, but Potter has already delivered the shoe’s first world record. 

Turning to triathlon 

Potter represented Great Britain at the 2016 Olympics and 2017 world championships in the 10,000m. She is also a former 10,000m British champion. According to Athletics Weekly, when she struggled to find sponsors in running, Potter decided to switch sports and focus her attention on triathlon instead of the track. 

World half-marathon record falls to Ruth Chepngetich in Istanbul

Istanbul race promised fast times due to red-hot line up and it delivered despite damp conditions

Ruth Chepngetich took almost half a minute off the women’s world half-marathon record in Istanbul on Sunday (April 4).

The Kenyan, who won the world marathon title in the heat and humidity of Doha in 2019, clocked 64:02 for the 13.1-mile distance as she smashed the 64:31 mark held by Ababel Yeshaneh of Ethiopia.

The 26-year-old is certainly familiar with the roads of Istanbul. She has now won the city’s half-marathon three times and in 2018 she ran 2:18:35 to win the Istanbul Marathon.

Yeshaneh’s world record was set at the RAK Half in February last year. That race was called off this year due to the coronavirus, which effectively meant many of the leading entrants competed in Istanbul instead.

Racing less than 24 hours after Beth Potter ran the fastest ever 5km on the roads at the Podium 5km in Lancashire, Chepngetich drew away from a strong field in Istanbul in damp and cool conditions.

The event featured a mass participation field and also inline skaters and saw the runners tackling the distance on the banks of the Bosphorus on a wet morning in Turkey.

Not only was Chepngetich’s time a world record, too, but it was quicker than the fastest-ever half-marathon set on the roads – the 64:28 by Brigid Kosgei on a Great North Run course that is disallowed for record purposes.

Runner-up Yalemrzew Yehualaf clocked 64:40 to go No.3 on the world all-time lists while Hellen Obiri, the world cross-country champion, clocked 64:51 on her debut, making this the first time three women had broken the 65-minute barrier in the same race.

Joan Chelimo Melly was fourth in 65:09 and world marathon record-holder Kosgei fifth in 66:01 as the top seven broke 67 minutes.

The eagerly-anticipated men’s race head to head between Kibiwott Kandie beats Geoffrey Kamworor, meanwhile, saw Kandie take the win by three seconds in 59:35 as he gradually drew away from his rival in the closing stages.

The runners were well outside Kandie’s men’s world record of 57:32 but Kandie’s time was a course record and the top five men broke the one-hour mark.

World Records in danger at Istanbul Half Marathon Sunday

Super-strong fields tackle 13.1 miles in Turkish city on Sunday with Hellen Obiri, Brigid Kosgei, Peres Jepchirchir, Kibiwott Kandie and Geoffrey Kamworor among the entries

World records could fall at the Istanbul Half Marathon on Sunday (April 4) due to the red-hot line-ups that have been assembled.

The women’s race features marathon world record-holder Brigid Kosgei, world half-marathon gold medallist Peres Jepchirchir and world cross-country and 5000m champion Hellen Obiri.

Whereas the men’s race sees world half-marathon record-holder Kibiwott Kandie against former world record-holder Geoffrey Kamworor.

Obiri makes her half-marathon debut and she could hardly have picked a tougher first race.

In addition to Kosgei and Jepchirchir, the Kenyan faces world marathon champion Ruth Chepngetich, plus Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw, Melat Kejeta of Germany and Yasemin Can of Turkey.

All eyes will be on Kandie and Kamworor in the men’s race but watch out too for Ethiopia’s Amdework Walelegn and Uganda’s Stephen Kissa plus Turkey’s Kaan Kigen Ozbilen.

Kandie and Kamworor were due to have a much-anticipated showdown at the RAK Half on February 19 but it was called off due to the pandemic.

If conditions are good Kandie’s world record of 57:32 – which was set in Valencia in December – will be under threat, whereas the women’s world record of 64:31 held by Ababel Yeshaneh is also in danger.

The races start 10am local time on Sunday April 4.

All Sport activities suspended in Kenya as Government aims to tackle COVID-19 spike

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has suspended all sporting activities in the country as part of efforts to control the spread of COVID-19.

Kenyatta confirmed a raft of new measures yesterday during a televised address, amid a spike in cases.

The Kenya President said the county had 4,380 confirmed COVID-19 cases on January 20, but that the figure had surged to 15,916 on March 22.

He warned that Kenya was facing a third wave of COVID-19, with the rate of infection having risen from 2.6 per cent in January up to around 22 per cent now.

Kenyatta announced new lockdown measures with a particular focus on high-risks areas, including the capital city Nairobi, as well as Kajiado, Machakos, Nakuru and Kiambu.

The new measures included the suspension of all sporting activities and in-person schooling in the country.

Kenyatta added that people over the age of 58 would be prioritised during the first stage of COVID-19 vaccinations in the country.

"Whereas the foregoing measures will have adverse effects on the economy and constrain our usual way of life, the measures are temporary and necessary to contain the spread of the disease and therefore stop further loss of lives," Kenyatta said.

"I am convinced that the cost of not acting now would be far greater."

The suspension of sporting activities in Kenya could have a major impact on athletes preparing for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It is unclear whether the Kenyan Government could issue exemptions for athletes preparing for the Games.

Kenya Rugby Union chairman Oduor Gangla has confirmed the organisation has suspended its Kenya Cup league due to the restrictions.

Kenya's men's and women's rugby sevens teams, however, are not based in the country at this time.

The teams are set to take part in the Emirates Invitational 7s event in Dubai, which will take place in April and serve as a warm-up event for teams competing at Tokyo 2020.

Double world indoor 800m champion Collins Kipruto thinks the new Covid-19 measures will negatively affect athletes preparations for international events

Kipruto says the new Covid-19 measures requiring athletes to train individually will negatively affect their preparations for local and international events. 

Kipruto said training in a group prepares athletes psychologically and provides them with a hint of what to expect in a competitive setting. 

"We usually prefer training together because we can motivate one another and push ourselves to give the best. By training in a group, you are able to gauge your level of fitness and performance vis-a-vis your training partners. You are also able to fine tune your tactics in readiness for the competition," Kipruto said. 

Kipruto, who is currently hard at work in Nyahururu, revealed he has had to adapt his training regime due to the present circumstances. 

"The positive thing about the current situation is that the camp has not been closed down so we are able to continue training. There are not many of us in Nyahururu, which makes it easier for us to adhere to the measures. I am in good shape and mentally ready for the upcoming competitions. I hope these new restrictions won't last long so we can get some competition under our belts," he said. 

On Sunday, Athletics Kenya postponed all upcoming athletics events in the country and directed all athletes to train individually rather than in groups to maintain physical distancing. 

This was after President Uhuru Kenyatta suspended all sports activities countrywide as part of new, tough restrictions to mitigate the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Kenyan Abel Kirui eyes Mumbai Marathon title in May

Two-time world marathon champion Abel Kirui has landed an invite for the  Mumbai Marathon set for May 30 in India.

The assistant superintendent of police based in Mombasa, said said he is ready to make his debut in Mumbai, where he will be up against other bigwigs. 

Speaking at his Global Sports Communication training camp in Kaptagat, Kirui said he started his Marathon journey in Asia, specifically Singapore Marathon where he finished third in 2:15:2 and wants to improve on that.

“Now I still have about two months to prepare and as an athlete, I will be fighting for the title and nothing less. I expect a crowded field by considering my training, i believe I am up to the challenge,” said Kirui, who finished third at the 2007 Vienna City Marathon in 2:10:41 before winning the title the following year in 2:07:38. 

The 39-year-old first won the world title in 2009 in Berlin, Germany before  defending it in 2011 Daegu, South Korea. Kirui won silver at the 2012 Olympic Games in London . 

The former Chicago Marathon champion said he will be keen to lower his personal best of 2:05:04, which he set in 2009 Rotterdam Marathon. “ I always run well under warm weather conditions, which I expect in Mumbai City,” he added.

Tsehay Gemechu and Nibret Melak claimed a double win for Ethiopia at the Cinque Mulini, the second leg of the World Athletics Cross Country Permit series

Gemechu and Melak secure Ethiopian double at Cinque Mulini, it was Gemechu’s second high-profile victory in as many weeks, following her triumph last weekend at the Campaccio meeting.

The Cinque Mulini, meaning 'five mills' in Italian, boasts one of the most iconic cross-country courses in the world. Back in the 1930s, the course passed through five mills along the Olona river. The race has had to adapt over time and it is now held on a two-kilometre loop which passes through the Cozzi and Meraviglia water mills.

In 2019 the Cinque Mulini was awarded the World Athletics Heritage Plaque.

Gemechu, fellow Ethiopian Alemitu Tariku and Kenya’s Sheila Chelangat and Beatrice Chebet pulled away from Burundi’s Francine Niyomukunzi in the early stages and completed the first lap in 6:45.

Chebet, Gemechu and Chelangat stepped up the pace on the second lap, opening up an 11-second gap on Tariku. Chelangat was the next to drift back, leaving Chebet and Gemechu to battle it out on the final lap.

Chebet led for most of the final lap, but Gemechu launched her kick in the final straight to take a three-second win in 18:53.

“I feel good,” said Gemechu, the fourth-place finisher in the 5000m at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019. “It was a great race for me. I am happy that I won my second consecutive race. I will now return to Ethiopia to prepare for my next race over 10,000m in Hengelo.”

Melak took the honours in the 10.2km men’s race in 28:57, holding off last year’s Cinque Mulini winner Leonard Bett Kipkemoi by one second and two-time world 5000m champion Muktar Edris by two seconds in a close sprint.

Bett led a nine-man lead group that included Melak, Edris, Uganda’s Samuel Kibet and Hosea Kiplangat, Italian marathon record-holder Eyob Faniel, Marouan Razine, Yohannes Chiappinelli and Oscar Chelimo.

The lead pack was whittled down to seven runners during the second lap as Bett took the initiative, going through the second lap mark in 12:14, closely followed by Melak, Kibet, Edris, Kiplangat, Chiappinelli and Chelimo.

The pace increased on the fourth lap when Melak, Bett, Kiplangat, Edris broke away from Kibet with the leading quartet going through 8km in 23:30.

In a dramatic final sprint, Melak edged ahead of Bett to win by one second in 28:57. Edris, who won the Cinque Mulini in 2013 and 2015, finished third in 28:59, sharing the same time as Chelimo.

It was Melak’s second consecutive podium finish in the Cross Country Permit series, following his runner-up spot at the Campaccio in San Giorgio su Legnano last week.

The 21-year-old has a 5000m PB of 13:07.27, set as an U20 athlete in 2018, but it’s cross country where he excels. Earlier this year he successfully defended his senior men’s title at the Jan Meda Cross Country, which doubles as the Ethiopian Championships.

“It was a very competitive race,” said Melak. “I expected that the battle for the win would be very close, as I ran against great athletes. Cross country is the perfect build-up to the track season.”

The most remarkable line-up has been announced for Istanbul Half Marathon

Organizers of the N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon have announced the most remarkable line-up in the history of this World Athletics Elite Label road race, to be held on 4 April.

Having staged a successful edition under intense measures against Covid-19 in September last year, the event is now set to host a limited number of 4000 participants on its traditional date of the first Sunday of April.

The race will see the long-awaited clash of the reigning and former world record-holders over the distance. Kibiwott Kandie of Kenya, now the world’s fastest half-marathon runner, improved the time set by his compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor in Valencia in December, bringing down the world record to 57:32 from 58:01. Kamworor, who has three World Athletics Half Marathon Championships gold medals under his belt, will be back on the roads following his recovery from surgery after he was hit by a motorcycle in June last year.

The two Kenyans will be joined by two sub-59 minute runners in Amedework Walelegn of Ethiopia, the Istanbul Half Marathon record-holder who won in 59:50 in 2018, and Uganda's Stephen Kissa, who made his debut over the distance in February 2020 and finished the year with a time of 58:56. Kenya’s Leonard Barsoton, sixth at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia last year, will also be one of the fastest athletes on the start line.

Home hopes in Istanbul will be led by Kaan Kigen Ozbilen, who holds the national record with 59:48. Aras Kaya, European cross country champion in 2019, will also be a strong contender in the event that incorporates the National Half Marathon Championships.

The women’s field is equally as strong. Kenya’s marathon world record-holder Brigid Kosgei and the women-only half-marathon world record-holder Peres Jepchirchir, plus the second fastest female half-marathon runner of all time Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia, will head the line-up.

Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich, the race record-holder and the reigning world marathon champion, will be a co-favorite in the race along with Joan Chelimo Melly.

The European women-only record-holder Melat Kejeta from Germany will also be on the start line on 4 April. The home crowd expects Kejeta’s record to be challenged by Yasemin Can.

Kamworor, Kandie, Kosgei and Yehualaw had been among the athletes set to race at the Ras Al Khamimah Half Marathon in February before it was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Kiplimo set to star at Campaccio cross country

Reigning world half-marathon champion Jacob Kiplimo from Uganda will be in the spotlight at the 64th edition of the Campaccio in San Giorgio su Legnano when the first leg of the World Athletics Cross Country Permit series takes place on Sunday (21).

The popular Northern Italian cross-country race was originally scheduled for its traditional 6 January date, but it was postponed until the end of March due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. For the first time in its long history, the Campaccio will be held in spring.

Kiplimo won the world half-marathon title in Gdynia in 58:49 last October and ran the second-fastest time in history over the 21.1km distance with 57:37 in Valencia last December. The 20-year-old also set PBs on the track last year, clocking 7:26.64 in the 3000m in Rome and 12:48.63 in the 5000m in Ostrava. In 2019 he won the world cross-country silver medal in Aarhus. In the build-up to the Campaccio, Kiplimo dominated the men’s race at the Italian Cross Country Club Championships in Campi Bisenzio near Florence in rainy conditions.

Kiplimo will race against his younger brother Oscar Chelimo, who won the BOclassic 5km World Athletics Label road race in Bolzano last December. In 2018 Chelimo finished seventh in the 5000m at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere and won the 3000m at the Olympic Youth Games in Buenos Aires. One year later, the 19-year-old won the world under-20 cross-country bronze medal in Aarhus and finished fifth in the 5000m at the African Games in Rabat. 

Another Ugandan runner in the line-up is 2017 and 2018 world mountain running silver medallist Joel Ayeko.

Last year’s surprise Campaccio winner Mogos Tuemay will return to San Giorgio su Legnano to defend his title. The Ethiopian runner set his 10,000m PB in Hengelo in 2019 with 27:23.49 and finished 18th at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Aarhus in 2019.

The top Italian runner is Eyob Faniel, who broke Stefano Baldini’s national marathon record with 2:07:19 in Seville last year. Faniel improved Rachid Berradi’s long-standing Italian half-marathon record with 1:00:07 at the Tuscany Camp Half Marathon in Siena at the end of February. Faniel also won the 2019 BOclassic road race and equalled Daniele Meucci’s 10km national record with 28:08 at the San Silvestre Vallecana in Madrid last December.

“I have always used cross-country competitions as preparation for the marathon,” said Faniel. “I finished ninth in 2017 and 10th in 2018 in my previous two appearances at the Campaccio. This year I am in different form, as I trained for shorter distances to prepare for the half-marathon. The turning point in my career was my win at the Boclassic in Bolzano in 2019.”

Faniel will battle for top place among Italian runners against Iliass Aouani, who won the national individual cross country title in Campi Bisenzio last week. Aouani, who graduated in engineering at the Syracuse University in New York, finished fourth at the 2019 World University Games in Naples in the 10,000m and equalled the national indoor mile record with 4:00.07 last year in Boston. 

Other Italian runners to watch out for are Yohanes Chiappinelli, who won the European bronze medal in the 3000m steeplechase in Berlin in 2018, plus 2017 European indoor 3000m finalist Yassin Bouih, 2019 world mountain running silver medallist Cesare Maestri and 2017 world mountain running gold medallist Francesco Puppi.

In the women’s race, Lilian Kasait Rengeruk from Kenya will be bidding to win the Campaccio title for the second time, three years after her triumph in 2018. Rengeruk won the world cross country bronze medal in 2017 and finished fifth in the 5000m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha with her PB of 14:36.05. 

Rengeruk will take on Winfred Mutile Yavi, who finished fourth in the 3000m steeplechase in Doha and won the past two editions of the Cinque Mulini Cross Country Permit race in San Vittore Olona in 2019 and 2020. Yavi clocked a world all-time best in the indoor 2000m steeplechase with 5:45.09 in Lievin last February. 

The line-up also features Ethiopia’s Tsehay Gemechu, who finished sixth at the 2019 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Aarhus. 

Nadia Battocletti leads the Italian contingent. Battocletti won two consecutive European under-20 cross-country gold medals and the European under-20 silver medal in the 5000m in 2019. The daughter of former Italian cross-country star Giuliano Battocletti finished sixth in last year’s edition of the Campaccio. She won her first national senior cross-country title in Campi Bisenzio last weekend after being sidelined by an injury problem at the end of January.

The other top Italian runners are Ludovica Cavalli, who won the Italian under-23 titles in the 1500m and 5000m last year and in the 3000m indoors in 2021, plus 3000m steeplechase specialist Martina Merlo (PB 9:41.06).

“Despite the restrictions due to the global pandemic, we managed to put together a world-class field. We are proud to announce that the special guest will be fresh European 60m champion Marcell Jacobs, who will offer his support for all athletes,” said Campaccio Technical Director Marcello Magnani.

Claudio Pastori, President of the local Unione Sportiva Sangiorgese, said: “We are determined to organise the Campaccio race this year. It is important to give a message of hope to the younger generation in this difficult period.”

Eliud Kipchoge ready for Hamburg Marathon redemption

Kenyan Olympic champion and marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge, is hoping to return to the top of the podium at the NN Hamburg Marathon on April 11 to redeem his stature following his shock London defeat last year.

The distance running star will be featured at the elite-only marathon for those looking to secure an Olympic qualifying time after few chances to compete in 2020 because of the pandemic.

Kipchoge saw his 10-marathon winning streak ended at the 2020 London Marathon on Oct. 4 but has had the time to recover and build back up at his training camp in Kaptagat, Kenya.

He will be running in Germany to gauge his shape ahead of a planned Olympic title defense in the summer.

"My number one goal is to run a beautiful race in Hamburg. A beautiful race will give people hope. It is another step that we are on the right track to normality," Kipchoge who ran the standing 2:01:39 world record at the 2018 Berlin Marathon tweeted on Thursday.

According to his management, NN Running, the Rio 2016 gold winner is hoping to reignite his marathon supremacy at the city where he made a victorious debut over the distance in April 2013.

"Hamburg has a lot of memories for me, it was my first exposure to the marathon and I remember thinking I didn't know what would happen at 25km, 30km, 35km and 40km. That memory of 'will I hit the wall' is still there. It was the beginning of my life in the marathon," Kipchoge told the NN Running website on Wednesday.

The impressive 2:05:30 win at the 2013 Hamburg Marathon sparked off a career switch from track running that yielded 11 wins in 13 marathons started for the Kenyan.

Prior to London 2020 where he clocked 2:06:49 for eighth, Kipchoge's only other loss at the distance came at the 2013 Berlin race where he was beaten to second by compatriot Wilson Kipsang who ran a then world record of 2:02:32.

Kipsang has since been banned for four years for Whereabouts Rules violations.

"Winning there gave me confidence that I could run the marathon and it played a big role in my career. Now I am running Hamburg again in a very different situation. We have very few races globally and it is a good opportunity to test myself, run well and offer hope to the world," Kipchoge remarked.

On Oct. 12, 2019, he became the first man to cover the classic 42.192km marathon distance in under two hours at the specially arranged INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Austria where he stopped the timer at 1:59:40.

However, like every other sportsperson around the world, Kipchoge was affected by the pandemic, admitting to NN Running that life has been "very hard."

Forced for several months to stay within his compound because of restrictions on movement implemented by the Kenyan government to control the virus, it was not an easy period for the first man in history to run a sub-two-hour marathon.

He spent the lockdown months by organizing a food distribution drive in partnership with several local companies and individuals to feed other affected runners who have not been as fortunate as him.

"It was really hard to go training and not mix with people to fight the virus. I am happy to have since resumed training with the team, but we continue to make sure we do so safely within the protocols because the virus is still with us.

"Life has been hard but that is the way of the world - we need to get through it but I think we are on the right track to a brighter future," the three-time London marathon winner underscored.

After suffering an untimely ear blockage, Kipchoge suffered his first marathon defeat in seven years in London but insists he is in "great mental and physical shape" and is looking forward to competing on the streets of Hamburg.

Kenyan runner convicted of doping offense in criminal court

A female runner became the first athlete in Kenya to be convicted of a doping offense in a criminal court on Friday.

Distance runner Florence Jepkosgei Chepsoi, who finished second at the 2019 Jakarta Marathon, was sentenced to one year of community service after she was found guilty of presenting false documents and lying to the Kenyan anti-doping agency at a hearing.

She changed her plea to guilty having initially pleaded not guilty when she was first charged in court last year.

Kenya criminalized doping offenses in 2016 in the midst of a stream of drug scandals among its world-renowned distance runners. The East African nation updated its anti-doping laws late last year.

Chepsoi was initially charged with doping by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya in 2017 after testing positive for the banned steroid prednisolone at a race in China. When she appeared before a tribunal, she presented documents she claimed were from a hospital as part of her defense. ADAK found the documents were forgeries and Chepsoi had never been treated at the hospital, leading the anti-doping body to push for her to be prosecuted in a criminal court.

It’s rare for an athlete to face criminal charges for doping offenses, although Chepsoi is not the first worldwide.

Criminal prosecutors normally target people such as doctors and other support staff who facilitate doping in what they refer to as doping conspiracies rather than the athletes themselves. The World Anti-Doping Agency recommends athletes do not face criminal prosecution for doping.

The United States passed a law in December that criminalized doping conspiracies and allows U.S. prosecutors to go after doping schemes at international events in which Americans are involved as athletes, sponsors or broadcasters. The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act was named after Grigory Rodchenkov, the former Moscow lab director who helped uncover state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes.

However, the Rodchenko Act makes clear that individual athletes are not subject to prosecution.

ADAK said more athletes would “face the law” for doping in the coming days. Four other Kenyan athletes are facing criminal charges for doping offenses.

Kenyan Florence Jepkosgei Chepsoi sentenced for forging documents

Kenyan long distance runner Florence Jepkosgei Chepsoi has received a one year community service sentence for faking documents as part of her defence on a doping charge, the Anti-Doping Association of Kenya (ADAK) announced.

She becomes the first Kenyan athlete to be found guilty in a criminal court.

The verdict was handed down after the trial in Eldoret following an investigation lasting a number of years.

The 36-year-old marathon runner was banned for two years in 2017 for using performance-boosting drug Prednisolone.

She was found guilty of providing false medical records from Eldoret's Uasin Gishu Hospital to support her defence case when she appeared before the Kenyan Sports Disputes Tribunal.

"The Uasin Gishu district hospital confirmed that those medical documents had been forged, and that the athlete had not been treated at the said hospital," ADAK said in a statement.

Over 60 Kenyan athletes have been suspended in the last five years for doping offences, including whereabout failures, a violation of the World Athletics anti-doping rules.

Kenya's 2016 Olympic women's marathon champion Jemima Sumgong is serving a lengthy ban after she was found to have falsified medical documents in an attempt to tamper with a positive test for EPO.

Sumgong, the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic marathon, tested positive for the blood-booster in an out-of-competition test five months after winning gold in Rio.

World records could be the order of the day at the Antrim Coast Half Marathon as Ethiopia star Yalemzerf Yehualaw confirms spot

World records could be the order of the day at the Antrim Coast Half Marathon with four-time Olympic gold medallist and defending champion Sir Mo Farah set to be joined by Ethiopian distance sensation and second fastest woman of all time Yalemzerf Yehualaw.

Elite race organiser James McIlroy - who himself reached the 800m semi-finals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics - has swooped to sign up Yehualaw for the August 29 showpiece and the athlete's agent has made clear that the opportunity to break the world record of 64 minutes 31 seconds on what is a very fast course is one of the main attractions drawing her there.

The 21-year-old boasts a PB of 64.46 and the Antrim Coast Half Marathon will be one of only four events she will contest this year and the first after the Tokyo Olympics.

Yehualaw's agent Daan van den Berg said: "Yalemzerf will only do two half marathons this year - Istanbul and the Antrim Coast Half - along with two 10,000m before the Olympic Games.

"The Antrim Coast coming three weeks after the Olympics is perfect timing, and we know if the Irish crowd get behind her she can break the world record as last year's race looked brilliant, with 35 out of 62 runners recording personal bests."

Yehualaw finished third at last year's World Championship after leading for most of the race before tripping on the finishing straight mat, and will be joined at the Larne event by Ethiopian team-mates Yitasyish Mekonnen and Tsehay Gemechu.

The African stars will be joined by early confirmed British internationals Jo Pavey, Sam Harrison, Tracy Barlow and Kirsty Longley.

The men's race will be one of the greatest half marathon fields ever assembled in the UK or Ireland. Race organisers have made no secret of attacking the 60-minute barrier and already have a strong international line-up, with four sub-60 runners already confirmed.

Making their first appearance ever in Ireland will be the African quartet of Tesfahun Akalnew (59.22), Victor Kiplangat (59.26), both from Uganda, Abrar Osman (59.47) of Eritrea and up and coming Kenyan Daniel Mateiko, all of whom will be attacking Sir Mo's course record 60.27 from last year.

It is hoped Sir Mo - coached by Larne-born Gary Lough, who is married to distance legend Paula Radcliffe - could be coming to Larne with Olympic gold number five tucked safely away after Tokyo.

Ruth Chepng'etich believes lack of foreign fans at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics will affect many athletes' performances

On Tuesday, Kyodo News Agency reported that the organisers are planning to lock out foreign supporters from the Games due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, leaving many to ponder what this will mean for the global show.

Chepng'etich said the presence of fans, especially Kenyans, is an added impetus for her — as well as other Kenyan athletes — especially when the going gets tough in the road races.

"Many times, your legs are weak and tired and that's when the fans come in. There are many races in which the sound of fans cheering me on and screaming my name has fueled me to give my all and repay them by crossing the finish line first. With the ban on foreign fans at Tokyo, am afraid that performances will be slightly impacted especially at vulnerable moments," Chepng'etich said. 

Chepng'etich hopes that training in solitude at her Ngong' base will however give her a psychological edge when she hits the Tokyo roads alongside other marathoners during July 23-August 8 event. 

"I have been training exclusively in Ngong' rather than my home area in Kericho due to the Covid restrictions and the need for quarantine. Regardless, I have put in a lot of work with a focus on securing an Olympic gold medal to add to my world marathon champion collection," she said. 

The fourth-fastest female marathoner has set her sights on breaking the world marathon record currently held by her Team Kenya teammate Brigid Kosgei. 

However, she concedes this will not be a walk in the park considering Kosgei has severally expressed her desire to reduce her record to 2:13.00. 

"The competition will not be easy; I am not expecting it to be considering the prestige that comes with competing in the Olympics. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for which all athletes have been preparing for many years. Therefore, I expect a tough competition not only from my able compatriots but also from other nations because every one will give their all," she said. 

Despite this sobering assessment, Chepng'etich is still bullish that the Kenyan quartet of Peres Jepchirchir, Vivian Cheruiyot, Kosgei and her can produce a 1-2-3-4 finish in Tokyo. 

Kenyan middle distance runner Nelly Jepkosgei banned after giving fake evidence for missed test

Jepkosgei has been banned for three years after accepting a charge of tampering with evidence, a violation of World Athletics’ anti-doping rules, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Tuesday.

Jepkosgei, who is ranked 27th in the world in the women’s 800m, missed a doping test on March 18 and offered fake evidence in the form of a forged document to explain the whereabouts failure, the AIU said in a statement

The 29-year-old had informed the AIU that she missed the test because she had been at Kapsabet County Referral Hospital, where her sister had been admitted after being involved in a serious car accident.

In June, Jepkosgei’s representative sent the AIU a copy of a discharge summary document from the hospital purporting to relate her sister, which stated she been admitted on March 18 and “remained there for some days”.

The AIU then asked Kenya’s anti-doping agency (ADAK) to verify Jepkosgei’s claim, but ADAK reported there were no police records of the car accident and that the hospital had no record of her sister being admitted. The Medical superintendent of Kapsabet County.

Kengo Suzuki still in state of shock after setting Japan marathon record

A day after his blistering run at the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Kengo Suzuki was still coming to grips with his status as a new Japanese national record holder on Monday.

Suzuki surprised even himself by setting the national men’s marathon record of 2 hours, 4 minutes, 56 seconds in Sunday’s race along the shores of Japan’s largest freshwater lake in Shiga Prefecture.

“It’s slowly sinking into my head that I actually set a new national record,” Suzuki said in an online press conference.

“(The race) has done more damage to my legs than I had imagined, so I’m going to take some time to rest before I move on to my next goal,” he said.

Suzuki’s win made him the first Japanese runner to complete a sub-2:05 marathon. He was among the more than 300 men lined up to run the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, one of the country’s most prominent races.

The unheralded Suzuki finished 12th in the same race last year, but this year he chopped more than five minutes off his previous personal best of 2:10:21, set in 2018.

Now the 25-year-old has set his sights on the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“(I still lack) the physical toughness to endure high-intensity training and the mental toughness to fend off (other runners’) attempts to unsettle me,” he said. “It’s important that I work out consistently every day.”

The previous national record of 2:05:29 was set last March at the Tokyo Marathon by Suguru Osako, who secured qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge holds the official marathon world record of 2:01:39, which he set at the Berlin Marathon in 2018, as well as the unofficial world record of 1:59:40 from an event in Vienna, Austria, in 2019 held under several artificial conditions.

Suzuki believes himself capable of running a sub-2:04 marathon in the near future, provided he can steer clear of injury.

“I’m getting more comfortable with my marathon training program,” he said. “If I’m able to stay injury-free and I raise my fitness levels, then that time might just be reachable.”

Spectators at Sunday’s race were asked to refrain from cheering on the sidelines as a coronavirus countermeasure.

The event, first run in 1946 in Osaka, moved to Shiga in 1962. But top runners have recently been opting to run the Tokyo Marathon, held around the same time of the year and said to produce better records.

Toshihiko Seko, who booked his berth for the 1988 Seoul Olympics by winning that year’s Lake Biwa Marathon, said, “It was a fitting finale and wonderful. It was a history-changing race.”

Kibiwott Kandie shine at Athletics Kenya meet

World Half Marathon Kibiwott Kandie started his Olympic Games preparation on a high note by winning his first track competition at the opening leg of the Athletics Kenya (AK) track and field weekend meeting at Nyayo Stadium on Saturday.

Kandie’s interest in the men’s 10,000m event will give Kenya hope at an event; it last won a gold medal at the Olympics in Mexico in 1968 through Naftali Temu.

The fast-rising Kandie, 24 who picked running in 2013 while still a student at Cheberen Secondary School in Baringo County, calculated his move well to easily win the men’s 10,000m in 28:28.0 to put his Olympics dream on track. 

Gilbert Kimunyan, who led for much of the race, settled for the silver position in 28:37.7 ahead of Peter Mwaniki who clocked 28:38.7 in third place.

“Now that Africa Cross Country has been postponed to a later date, I thought it was wise for me to come and gauge myself in track because I’m keen on representing and winning a medal for Kenya in Tokyo,” said Kandie who finished second at the National Cross Country Championships two weeks ago. 

Kandie who made his breakthrough at the 2020 World Half Marathon in Gdynia, Poland before winning the 2020 Valencia Half Marathon, in a world record time of 57:32 believes teamwork in Tokyo will enable them to deliver the elusive gold medal at the Olympics in Tokyo. 

The Xiamen Marathon has been granted World Athletics Elite Platinum Label

The Xiamen Marathon has been rated as a 2021 World Athletics Elite Platinum Label race, according to World Athletics' website.

The Xiamen Marathon gained the World Athletics Elite Platinum Label alongside the six world marathon majors (Boston Marathon, London Marathon, Berlin Marathon, Chicago Marathon, New York Marathon, and Tokyo Marathon), becoming the second race to win this label in China after the Shanghai Marathon.

The "World Athletics Elite Platinum Label", the highest level of the current 3-level race rating system, signifies the world's top race certification label.

The Xiamen Marathon has run successfully for 18 years since its inception in 2003. The result of 2:06:19 made by Kenyan Moses Mosop at the 2015 Xiamen Marathon stands not only as the race record for the Xiamen Marathon, but also as the best result for men in marathons in China to date.

"Xiamen Marathon has contributed significantly to the development of marathons in China over the past 19 years," said Ruan Dunliang, director of Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Sports.

"The 'Elite Platinum Standard' represents a high degree of recognition and also a new mission for Xiamen Marathon, symbolizing a new era for Xiamen Marathon.

"Future efforts will keep focusing on improving the professionalism and internationalization of Xiamen Marathon to bring a higher-quality race to marathon enthusiasts worldwide." 

Sally kipyego is focused on winning a medal in the Olympic marathon

After the 2020 Olympics were postponed last March because of Covid-19, US Olympic marathoner Sally Kipyego and her coach Mark Rowland decided to take a laid back approach to the rest of 2020 with the hope that Kipyego’s body would feel refreshed when she resumed training in earnest last fall. The time is coming, however, to return to competition.

Kipyego was scheduled to race last week for the first time since she made Team USA at the US Olympic Marathon Trials in February 2020. But the race she was planning on running, the RAK Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates, was cancelled. Instead, she has a 15K planned for March (Kipyego could not officially announce it, but the logical assumption is she means the USATF 15K champs in Jacksonville on March 20) and a 10,000 on the track in April, where she hopes to hit the qualifying standard for the 2022 Worlds in Eugene. After that, she will shift to marathon mode and focus on building up for the Olympics.

And Kipyego is dreaming big. And for good reason. Kipyego is the only member of the US women’s marathon squad with an Olympic medal, having earned a silver in the 10,000 in London in 2012 for her native Kenya, and believes she is capable of taking home another one this summer.

“I feel like if I get good consistent training — which I have been able to do the last one-and-a-half years — proper training, I think I’ll have a chance of medaling,” Kipyego says. “That is really the objective for this season for me, is to be able to medal.”

Some may think that is an ambitious goal for a 2:25 marathoner who was only third at the US Olympic Trials. After all, it has been over five years — when she was 5th in the 10,000 at the 2015 Worlds — since Kipyego has been competitive in a global championship. But those numbers don’t tell the whole story.

For one, Kipyego, who at 35 is two years younger than Sara Hall, feels she has yet to demonstrate her full potential at 26.2 miles, going so far as to say, “I haven’t really quite gotten a good marathon in.” Kipyego was second in the first marathon she finished, running 2:28:01 in New York in November 2016, but she was way back of winner Mary Keitany who ran 2:24:26. Shen then missed all of 2017 after giving birth to daughter Emma, and it took her longer than expected to get back to top form after her pregnancy.

It was not until the fall of 2019, when she ran 2:25:10 in Berlin, that the world began to catch a glimpse of the Kipyego of old, and she is confident in the training she has stacked together since then. But that still leaves a second problem: can Kipyego possibly get into medal shape given the current state of women’s marathoning? Of the seven fastest women in history, five have set their personal bests (all 2:17:45 or faster) since the start of 2019, led by Brigid Kosgei‘s 2:14:04 world record in Chicago.

“We’re talking about championships,” Kipyego says. “When it comes to championships, they’re not the same as major marathons, for example. You can still be competitive in a championship because you’re not running 2:14 or 2:12 marathon pace. If the race is being run at 2:20, most of us can be able to put themselves there. So I believe that if I can get — and I’m trying to get myself into — 2:20 or sub-2:20 shape going into Tokyo, and I think if I am in that kind of shape, my chances are pretty good at medaling.”

Kenya has banned its athletes from taking part in the Kilimanjaro Marathon in Tanzania this weekend, because of growing concerns over the spread of the pandemic in the host country

Athletics Kenya announced it would not permit its runners to participate in the event at the foothills of Africa's highest mountain "due to the global outbreak and spread of COVID-19".

But officials voiced more specific concerns about the spread of the disease in Tanzania, where the Government has been criticised for downplaying the seriousness of the pandemic and refusing to take tough measures against it.

"We have to protect our athletes," a senior official at Athletics Kenya told The Nation.

"If we allow them to compete in the Tanzania race, and they contract the virus, it will be easy to transmit it to other Kenyan runners back home."

Last week Tanzania’s President John Magufuli - who has insisted the disease can be defeated with prayer - conceded it was still circulating, revealing some of his aides and family members had contracted COVID-19 but had recovered.

World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last week appealed to Tanzania to take "robust action" against the disease, after several travellers from the country tested positive.

On Monday (February 22) the United States issued a "do not travel" warning to Tanzania, due to the spread of the virus.

Kenyan male and female runners have enjoyed a clean sweep in the the last three editions of the Kilimanjaro race, which takes place in the northern town of Moshi near the border with Kenya.

Tanzania last gave case figures for coronavirus infections in April 2020, when it reported 509 cases.

Kenya's Olympics Marathon team has been named

The 2020 Valencia Marathon winners Peres Jepchirchir and Vincent Kipchumba have been included in Kenya’s marathon team for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Making the announcement Tuesday, Athletics Kenya senior vice president, Paul Mutwii, disclosed that Kenya will be represented by four athletes each in the men and women’s categories.

Jepchirchir, the World Half Marathon champion and Half Marathon World record holder, now joins World Marathon champion, Ruth Chepngétich, Marathon World record holder, Brigid Kosgei and multiple World champion and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic 5,000m gold medalist and 10,000m silver medalist, Vivian Cheruiyot.

Kipchumba will team up with Olympic Marathon champion, Eliud Kipchoge, World Marathon bronze medallist, Amos Kipruto and 2019 Boston Marathon winner Lawrence Cherono.

Four athletes, who were named as reserves in the original team that was named in January last year before the Tokyo Olympics were postponed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, have been dropped.

They are Valary Ayabei and Sally Chepyego in the women’s team and Titus Ekiru and Bedan Karoki in the men's side.

Asked why they have settled on four athletes in each team, Mutwii said: "It's a decision we have made and we are certain they will deliver outstanding victories."

The delayed Summer Olympics will be staged from July 23 to August 8, but while the track and field events will be held at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, the race walk and marathon events will be at Odori Park in Sapporo, 1,167.7km from the Japanese capital.

Kenya won both the men and women’s Olympics marathon titles with disgraced Jemimah Sumgong going for the women’s gold medal at the 2016 Olympics.Sumgong has since been banned for a doping offence.

Mutwii disclosed that they will liaise with the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) on how best to prepare the team.

“The athletes can continue training individually before we roll out soon,” said Mutwii, adding that NOC-K had instructed them to prepare sprinters for an early camp.

The North Face Just Dropped the First Carbon-Plated Trail Running Shoe

Controversial speed is coming to a mountain near you

I’ve tested out carbon-plated shoes from a variety of running brands over the last 12 months. A movement that began with Nike’s NEXT% line — which propelled Kenyan legend Eliud Kipchoge to a mind-boggling sub-two hour marathon back in late 2019 — has now firmly taken over the sport.

For the skeptics out there, these shoes are legit. There’s a reason the success of Nike’s shoe led to allegations of “gear doping,” new rules from the World Athletics body, and a call to arms for competitors like Adidas, ASICS and Saucony. The shoes generally combine tall, lightweight foam (which running journalist Amby Burfoot once compared to having extra leg muscles), with a carbon insert, meant to facilitate maximum energy retention — to “propel you froward” as the brand copywriters like to say.

After all that initial noise, they’re not only here to stay; they’re poised to take over other sub-sections of the sport. Yesterday, The North Face dropped a first look at its VECTIV series, the world of trail running’s first official carbon-plated running shoes.

I have zero complaints about my carbon-plated shoes. (Lately, I’ve been running in the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT%s and the Saucony Endorphin Pros.) In a year without races, they’ve helped me to log some benchmark times I’m proud of. That said, those shoes are noticeably reliant on dry, clean surfaces. They like asphalt, they prefer track. Whenever either is slick from rain or snow, or — god forbid — roots or leaves get involved, they have a ton of trouble gripping the ground.

The North Face, a brand as synonymous with all-elements gear as any on the planet, has designed a carbon-plated shoe that can actually handle unforgiving trails. Most running brands have their athletes come in and test out prototypes on a treadmill; TNF trail runners logged up to 600 miles in a single pair, and much of them on punishing terrain. One runner ran 93 miles around Mt. Rainier in them this past summer.

The premier release in TNF’s line, the FLIGHT VECTIV, aims for stability and strength, like any other reliable trail running shoe. It has a high-grip outsole, while its mesh fibers are literally reinforced with Kevlar. But it’s built for speed. The shoes contain a 3D plate directly underneath the foot, alongside a rocker midsole. Ultrarunner Pau Capell described the shoes as a “downhill weapon.” Trail runners often have to slow down due to practical concerns, not for lack of spirit. These shoes are designed to let them fly.

And, crucially, to avoid injury while doing so. The maximalist foam included in carbon-plated shoes blunts the impact of runners logging so many miles. Ultrarunners are on another level entirely; they’re incessantly susceptible to stress fractures, plantar fasciitis, sprained ankles, cramps, and broken toes. But the VECTIV line — which also includes the INFINITE and the ENDURIS, two shoes less concerned with speed — promises 10% less “impact shock.” It could bring more newcomers to the sport, and keep around those who already love it.

Obiri eyeing double events at Tokyo Olympics

World 5000m champion Hellen Obiri is keen to compete in both 5,000m and 10,000m events at this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

The 31-year-old has already vowed to go all out for her maiden Olympic gold, the only medal missing in her cabinet.

In what could be her final appearance at the Summer Games, Obiri who bagged a silver medal in 5,000m in Rio Games, said she is ready to contest in both races.

“Probably I am going to double in 5k and 10k if I will make the Kenyan team,” said Obiri after anchoring her Kenya Defence Forces mixed relay team to victory at the national cross country championships.

Obiri did both events at the 2019 World Championships in Doha winning the 5,000m race and finishing a distant fifth in 10,000m.

The Commonwealth Games champion will follow in the footsteps of her compatriot Vivian Cheruiyot who did the double in 2016 clinching a gold medal in 5,000m and a silver in 10,000m.

Despite making the team for Africa Cross Country Championships in the mixed relay category, Obiri said she will skip the continental showpiece slated for Lome, Togo on March 7 as she heightens her preparations for the Olympics.

At the same time, Obiri disclosed that she is set to kick start her track season at the Diamond League season opener in Rabat on May 23.

“Right now I am focused on the buildup towards the Olympics. I am looking forward to the Diamond League season where I intend to compete in 1,500m at the Rabat meeting,” she said.

The African champion was set to make her debut in the half marathon at the cancelled Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon that was slated for Friday.

Eliud Kipchoge will make his final marathon appearance prior to his Olympic title defence at the NN Mission Marathon in Hamburg

The one-off marathon, organised jointly by his management firm Global Sports Communication, the NN Running Team and the Hamburg Marathon, carries the tagline ‘The fastest way to Tokyo’ and is an effort to provide another much-needed competitive opportunity for athletes to not only run a fast race in the lead-in to the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, but in many cases to help them achieve the qualification standard.

The race, which will take place around a looped 10.5-kilometer city center course, is expected to attract about 100 invited elite athletes.

Kipchoge, the world record-holder, will of course attract the bulk of the attention. His appearance will come after a disappointing eighth place finish at the London Marathon last October where he clocked 2:06:49.

The Kenyan kicked off his marathon career in 2013 with victory in the Hamburg Marathon, and said he's delighted to return to compete in the northern German.

"In Hamburg, I am going back to the genesis of my marathon career," he said. "I hope to inspire many people around the world by running a beautiful race in the streets of this beautiful city."

Kipchoge, 36, has gone on to win 11 of his 13 races over the classic distance and has produced two of the three fastest performances of all-time, topped by his 2:01:39 world record at the 2018 Berlin Marathon.

One year later, Kipchoge became the first athlete to break the two-hour barrier in the event, when he clocked 1:59:40 at an exhibition event in Vienna.

In Tokyo, Kipchoge will aim to become just the third man to win back-to-back Olympic marathon titles.

14:43! Chepkoech breaks world 5km record in Monaco

Beatrice Chepkoech broke the world 5km record at the Monaco Run on Sunday (14), clocking 14:43*.

The performance by the 29-year-old Kenyan bettered the previous record in a mixed gender race of 14:48 set by Caroline Kipkirui in 2018, and is also one second faster than Sifan Hassan's 14:44 record for a women's-only race, until this morning the fastest time ever produced over the distance since the 5km was introduced as a world record event in November 2017.

Chepkoech battled strong winds during the early stages of the race along the Monaco coastline but fought on over the latter stages to claim a second world record, this one joining her 8:44.32 record in the 3000m steeplechase set in 2018, also in Monaco.

"I'm so happy because I didn't expect it," said Chepkoech, the 2019 world champion in the steeplechase. "It was cold and there was a lot of wind, but I tried to follow my pace maker and everything was perfect."

She may not have had the world record in mind initially, but Chepkoech did set her sights on victory from the outset. 

Despite the winds, Chepkoech had already forged a six-second lead just 500 metres into the race, before reaching the first kilometre in 2:57, 15 seconds clear of Meraf Bahta, her nearest competitor. Splits of 2:59 for the second kilometre and 3:01 for the third followed before she and pacesetter Luuk Maas decided to up the tempo as they approached the Larvotto Tunnel portion of the course, at the northeastern edge of the Principality's main port, a second time. 

Since the winds had died down, she said, "my pacemaker told me ‘we can do it, let’s push it’."

She did.

After a 2:57 fourth kilometre, Chepkoech ended her morning's work with a 2:47 closing kilometre to take ownership of the world record.

Chepkoech had already illustrated her strong early 2021 form with an 8:34.21 career best over 3000m indoors in Lievin on 9 February. She'll race next at the Copernicus Cup leg of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting series in Torun, Poland, on 17 February before returning home to resume her training.

Joshua Cheptegei, who set the men's world record of 12:51 at this race last year, successfully defended his title, clocking 13:13.

The 24-year-old Ugandan ran at or near the front from the gun but it was clear early on that the conditions would not be conducive for a serious assault on his year-old record.

"The wind was incredibly difficult," said Cheptegei, who covered the opening kilometre in 2:44, 13 seconds behind the pace that propelled him to the world record last year. Kilometre splits of 2:41, 2:37 and 2:38 followed before he closed with a 2:32, the fastest of the race.

Kenyans Bethwell Birgen and Davis Kiplangat clocked 13:17 and 13:19 to round out the top three with Morhad Amdouni of France fourth in 13:19, one second outside of the European record set by compatriot Jimmy Gressier at this race last year.

ELIUD KIPCHOGE: NEW EK CLOTHING LINE BY NIKE.

Eliud Kipchoge, the great Marathon runner, first person running a marathon below 2 hours joins Michael Jordan and Cristiano Ronaldo launching his own NIKE clothing line. Kipchoge launched the NIKE EK-line earlier this morning. The EK-line includes shoes such as the Alpha-Fly and the Pegasus as well as other running apparel. The line is inspired by Eliud’s achievements in athletics but also embodies a close connection to his Kenyan roots and mantra: ‘No Human Is Limited’.

he EK-line is available as of now in NIKE stores around the world as well as their online store. This unique collection is a NIKE initiative to honor the greatest marathon athlete in history. The campaign slogan ‘Run unlimited’ aims to spread Eliud’s legacy on a global scale. Eliud’s mission? Inspire the entire world to run!

Eliud Kipchoge: “It is a long time now since I started running, and while my runs have changed, I’ve always experienced the same joy. I’m incredibly proud to represent Kenya around the clock and with this collection from Nike Running and myself, people can now wear the flag all around the world. That’s how people can become one.”

Joshua Cheptegei set two world records in Monaco in 2020, now he is ready to open season in return to Monaco this Sunday

A lot has changed since this time last year, but one thing that has remained the same is the fact that Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei is a dominant force in the world of running. In 2020, he set three world records in just four races, two of which were in Monaco.

He is set to return to Monaco on Sunday to race a 5K, opening his season the same way he did in 2020. Every race Cheptegei entered last year was a thriller, so you won’t want to miss his run on Sunday. 

Cheptegei won last year’s Monaco 5K, absolutely crushing the rest of the field and running to a world record of 12:51. He smashed the 5K world record while also bettering his own PB by a whopping 33 seconds. His win in Monaco came just a few weeks before the season was put on hold due to COVID-19, but when Cheptegei made his comeback in August, he was in similar form. 

His second race of the season was also at a 5K in Monaco, although this time he was racing on the track. He ran to the 5,000m world record, posting an incredible time of 12:35.36. Two months later, Cheptegei broke his third record of the year at a 10,000m race in Valencia, Spain, where he hammered out a remarkable 26:11.00 result.

Finally, just 10 days after his run in Spain, Cheptegei raced the World Half-Marathon Championships in Poland, and while he didn’t win, he still finished in a blazing-fast time of 59:21 to finish fourth in his debut at the distance. 

Cheptegei is one of the most exciting runners to watch right now, and he’ll likely wow the running world once again on Sunday. Even if he can’t break his own 5K world record (because, let’s be honest, that 12:51 will be extremely tough to beat), he’s apt to run an amazing race. 

Alot has changed since this time last year, but one thing that has remained the same is the fact that Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei is a dominant force in the world of running. In 2020, he set three world records in just four races, two of which were in Monaco. He is set to return to Monaco on Sunday to race a 5K, opening his season the same way he did in 2020. Every race Cheptegei entered last year was a thriller, so you won’t want to miss his run on Sunday. 

Why should you watch? 

Cheptegei won last year’s Monaco 5K, absolutely crushing the rest of the field and running to a world record of 12:51. He smashed the 5K world record while also bettering his own PB by a whopping 33 seconds. His win in Monaco came just a few weeks before the season was put on hold due to COVID-19, but when Cheptegei made his comeback in August, he was in similar form. 

His second race of the season was also at a 5K in Monaco, although this time he was racing on the track. He ran to the 5,000m world record, posting an incredible time of 12:35.36. Two months later, Cheptegei broke his third record of the year at a 10,000m race in Valencia, Spain, where he hammered out a remarkable 26:11.00 result. Finally, just 10 days after his run in Spain, Cheptegei raced the World Half-Marathon Championships in Poland, and while he didn’t win, he still finished in a blazing-fast time of 59:21 to finish fourth in his debut at the distance. 

Cheptegei is one of the most exciting runners to watch right now, and he’ll likely wow the running world once again on Sunday. Even if he can’t break his own 5K world record (because, let’s be honest, that 12:51 will be extremely tough to beat), he’s apt to run an amazing race.

Cheptegei isn’t the only reason you should watch the Monaco 5K. In the women’s race,

Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech is the biggest name in the field, and she could have a big performance, too. Chepkoech is the 3,000m steeplechase world record holder (a title she earned in Monaco in 2018), and she’s coming off a successful 2020 season. 

Her current 5K road PB of 16:25 may not be anything special, but she ran that seven years ago and hasn’t raced the event since. She is a much stronger athlete now, and she will be looking to lower that significantly on Sunday.

Sandra Chebet wins fourth Nairobi Cross Country title and she is eager to represent Kenya at the Tokyo Olympic Games

Langáta’s Sandra Chebet blew away the field to seal her fourth victory in the senior women’s 10km race during the Athletics Kenya Nairobi Cross Country Championships at Kenya Prisons Service grounds, Nairobi West on Sunday.

Sandra, the 2017 Africa 5,000m silver medallist, her sister Emily Chebet (Langáta) and Margaret Nduta (Embakasi) went head-to-head in the first two laps of the five-lap course before Sandra went for the kill.

Sandra would tear the gusty course with ease to gradually build on her lead before carrying the day in 33 minutes and 48.7 seconds, beating Emily to second place in 35:07.8.

Ndunta eased home in third place in 35:41.6 followed by Ann Nasisyo (Langáta), Bency Cheruiyot (makadara) and Emily Chepkemoi (Kasarani) in 36:07.1, 36:26.1 and 36:27.5 respectively to seal their places in the Nairobi team for the National Cross Country Championships on February 13 in Nairobi.

“It’s feels great to retain my title and more so win for the sixth time in Nairobi. I have two junior titles here and this is my fourth senior crown. I thank God for the great health,” said Sandra, who is eager to break it to the big staged. 

“I really want to break the duck at the nationals where I have taken part several times without success,” said the 23-year-old Sandra, was fresh from finishing ninth at Discovery Cross Country 10km race in Eldoret the previous weekend.

Sandra, who trains at Lemotit Camp, Londiani, Kericho, is also eager to represent Kenya in 10,000m at the Tokyo Olympic Games later this year. 

Trizah Cherotich from Langáta won women’s Under-20 6km race in 21:25.6, beating teammate Dorcus Chepkemoi (21:49.0) and Westlands’ Regina Wambui (22:26.9) op second and third places respectively. Mirriam Chemutai was untouchable in girls’ under-18 5km contest, where she clocked 17:17.3, beating Fancy Chepkorir and Sharon Chepkemei in 17:22.7 and 17:40.9 in that order.

Stanbic Bank Kenya unveil marathon queen Brigid Kosgei as brand ambasaddor

Stanbic Bank Kenya have engaged world marathon record holder Brigid Kosgei as their brand ambassador for a period of two years.

Kosgei, the reigning London and Chicago Marathon champion, will now drive Stanbic Bank's new brand positioning and campaign dubbed “It Can Be,” aimed at inspiring and encouraging both the internal and external stakeholders to dream big and achieve their goals.

While unveiling Kosgei at a ceremony at Kempinski Hotel, Nairobi on Thursday, Stanbic Bank Kenya chief executive officer, Charles Mudiwa, said that they will engage the 2019 and 2020 London Marathon champion in many fields to enhance delivery and performance at their bank.

Mudiwa said their partnership with Kosgei is also in line with Stanbic Bank’s commitment to empower women.

“Through its women proposition DADA, the bank continues to proactively invest in women and their businesses for a more equitable and progressive society,” explained Mudiwa, adding that through various financial and non-financial offerings, the bank has managed to bring on board over 10,000 women, and the numbers keep growing.

“Brigid is a fitting international athlete and has achieved a great deal at such a young age and is a true reflection of the brand. Her determination and focus portrays the very essence of It Can Be,” said Mudiwa. “It Can Be speaks to the philosophy of who we are and where we are going as a Kenyan Bank.”

The 26-year-old Kosgei said that he was humbled by Stanbic Bank’s gesture and vowed to use the opportunity to sensitize the girl-child on the importance of education and sports.

“I dropped out of school since my parents were unable to pay my school fees and that is why I shall endeavor to give my children good education as well as push them into sports,” said Kosgei, adding that everyone faces challenges in life, but it should not deter us from going forth and achieving our goals.

Kosgei said Stanbic Bank has been there to support her journey and helped her realize her dreams.

2021 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon has been moved to April 10

This year’s edition of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon earlier slated for February 13, has now been shifted till April 10, the organisers disclosed yesterday.

Last week, the Nilayo Sports Management Chief Executive Officer, Bukola Olopade, stated that the number of athletes taking part in the 2021 event was reduced from its usual 100,000 runners to 300 to stay within the regulatory procedure of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking on why it was postponed, Olopade stated that even though Lagos State government, the sponsors and the organisers were fully ready, there was the need to move the event forward to April 10 due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Olopade added: “We are not going to increase the number from 300 runners even though a lot of foreign athletes want to use the silver label Access Bank Lagos City marathon to cement their qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.

“As we speak, this Lagos city marathon has been listed by World Athletics as qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics. Even the April 10 date is already on their website,” Olopade said, adding that the 300 tickets available for the 2021 edition would be distributed to athletes both from the country and those coming from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, United Kingdom, USA and other countries.

“The 2021 Lagos City Marathon would be exclusive for the 42km race. The 10km race and the wheelchair race won’t be part of this year’s edition. The health of the athletes and everyone, who will attend the event, is very important to us. The absence of the 10km race won’t take away the glamour of the event.”

“Lagos State has become a sports tourist attraction because of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon. We are always happy to support and make sure that the marathon happens and get better every year. We are looking forward to the April 10 date to show to the world that Lagos is a destination place to visit,” Olopade stated.

Commonwealth 10,000m bronze medalist, Rodgers Kwemoi, will be seeking a win at the Ras Al Khaimah

Kwemoi, will be seeking a win at the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon to make up for the pain of missing out on victory at last Sunday's Discovery Kenya Cross Country Championships in Eldoret.

The former world junior 10,000m champion finished third behind winner Nicholas Kimeli and Africa Games' 5,000m champion Robert Kiprop.

“This is part of my speed and endurance build-up ahead of for RAK but I have to run well at the national championships cum trials first. My preparations have been good and that is why I had to run well in this race,” the Mount Elgon-born athlete said. 

However, it will be a tall order for Kwemoi in the United Arab Emirates as he will have to upstage a star-studded roster in the men's category including world Half Marathon record holder, Kibiwott Kandie, world half marathon champion Jacob Kiplimo from Uganda and former world record holder Geoffrey Kamworor.

Others hoping to start off the year in style include former world half marathon silver medalist Bedan Karoki, RAK silver medalist Alexander Munyao, Stephen Kiprop and New York Marathon champion Shura Kitata of Ethiopia.  

Kwemoi will also be chasing an Olympics slot in 10,000m and is optimistic he can end the country's dry spell in the long distance race since the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games.

“I want to run 10,000 m as I focus on the Olympics. I want to bring the 10,000m Olympic gold after Kenya having the dry spell over the medal,” Kwemoi said.

African Games 5000m champion Robert Kiprop destroyed a strong field to win the men’s 10km race at the Discovery Kenya Cross Country

African Games 5000m champion Robert Kiprop destroyed a strong field to win the men’s 10km race at the Discovery Kenya Cross Country held Sunday at the Eldoret Sports Club.

Running on a near-flat course and under a scorching sun, Kiprop timed 30:17.8 to dethrone last year’s winner Nicholas Kimeli who finished second in 30:20.8 while Commonwealth Games 10000m bronze medallist Rodgers Kwemoi placed third in 30:25.3.

World 10000m bronze medallist Rhonex Kipruto was fifth after crossing the finish line in 30:33.5

Kiprop who trains at St Patrick’s High School Iten alongside Kipruto said he is now eyeing a slot in Kenya’s team for the Africa Cross Country slated for Togo in March 1-2.

“It was a very tough race considering the opponents I was facing with the likes of Kipruto and Kwemoi. This is my first race this season and I am now going to work hard as I prepare for the national championships. I am also targeting Olympics in 5000m,” Kiprop said in an interview after the race.

On his part Kwemoi said he was using the race as a warm up for the upcoming Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon scheduled for February 19 at the United Arab Emirates.

The fast-rising Daisy Cherotich from Nandi stunned bigwigs in the corresponding women’s race when she took the lead in the second lap of the 2km loop to win the race in 33:53.6

The 20-year-old said she is now shifting her focus to the nationals in a fortnight as she eyes to make her maiden appearance in Kenyan colours.

“I was not expecting to win today but I thank God I made it despite the tough competition. I know it will be much tougher at the nationals but I will do my best,” said Cherotich.

Eva Cherono timed 34:01.9 to finish second as Eunice Chebichi closed the podium in 34:15.7

Reigning Frankfurt Marathon champion Valary Jemeli was fifth in 34:31.3 while African Games 5000m champion Lilian Kasait who recently won the Prison’s championships ranked seventh in 34:41.0

In the boy’s 8km race, Gideon Rono reigned supreme in 23:01.6 as Monicah Jepngetich emerged top in the girl’s 6km race after clocking 20:55.6

The event also doubled as the Central Rift championships, with the region picking their team for the nationals slated for Ngong Race Course in a fortnight.

Selected Results

10km senior men

1 Robert Kiprop 30:17.82 Nicholas Kimeli 30:20.83 Rodgers Kwemoi 30:25.34 Titus Kiptotich 30:28.75 Rhonex Kipruto 30:33.56 Emmanuel Rutto 30:37.1

10km senior women

1 Daisy Cherotich 33:53.62 Eva Cherono 34:01.93 Eunice Chebichi 34:15.74 Gladys Chepkirui 34:26.25 Valary Jemeli 34:31.36 Jackline Rotich 34:31.8

6km junior women

1 Monica Jepngetich 20:55.62 Jackline Jepkoech 21:00.13 Sharon Jerono 21:10.24 Brenda Jepchumba 21:27.25 Zena Jeptoo 21:29.56 Deborah Chemutai 21:33.6

8km junior men

1 Gideon Rono 24:01.62 Brian Kiprop 24:31.73 Emmanuel Maru 24:36.94 Emmanuel Kiplagat 24:39.45 Levy Kibet 24:43.56 Ismael Kirui 24:46.1

Geoffrey Kamworor makes winning comeback at police cross country championship

In his first race since his car accident, the former half-marathon world record holder won the race in a time of 29:22.3.

The last time Kamworor competed was in the National Cross Country Championships on February 15, 2020, and he won with a time of 30:04.9. On June 25, the 28-year-old was struck by a motorcycle during his morning run, resulting in multiple injuries including a fracture in his right tibia that required surgery. He appears to have fully recovered from his injuries and according to the Kenyan news site Pd Online, he was excited to compete.

“It has been a long time coming. It’s time to race again!” he said to the news outlet prior to the race. “After months of working hard to recover from my injury, I’m very excited that I will have an opportunity to defend my title.”

The race was competitive, with a  number of strong athletes toeing the line against Kamworor including Joesphat Kiprotich who placed in second with a time of 29:52.6 and Casius Masinde running 30:13.0 for third. On the women’s side, Sheila Chelang’at won the 10K race in 33:34.6, followed by Hyvin Kiyeng in 33:39.8 and Edith Chelimo in 33:40.5.

Kamworor will also be racing the 2021 Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates on February 19, and if this result is any indication of his current fitness, it will be exciting to see what the former world record holder will do over the longer distance. He has held the title of world half-marathon champion four times, culminating in his world-record run at the Copenhagen Half-Marathon when he ran an incredible 58:01 for the win. He is also a two-time winner of the New York City Marathon, which he won in 2017 in a time of 2:10.53, and again in 2019 in 2:08.13.

Billy Yang’s Latest Film Takes Us Through the Amazing Career of Zach Miller

We caught up with the popular trail-running filmmaker to learn all about his latest project.

Zach Miller has been a household name in trail and ultrarunning since his out-of-nowhere victory at the 2013 JFK 50 Miler. Since then, the 34-year-old has raced and won some of the biggest races on the ultra calendar.

Billy Yang: I started off a fan like everyone else. He’s an unassuming guy, as his friends from Colorado Springs, Colorado, say in the film. I was totally guilty of that. When I first met him, here’s this guy that shocked the ultrarunning community out of nowhere. There were a lot of oddballs at that point in time, but Rob Krar was crushing the competition and dominating the scene. I figured that I’d see what this guy was about.

I was doing a film at Lake Sonoma 50 miler in 2014, which ended up gaining a lot of traction. I followed four runners and this guy Zach Miller kind of spoils my film by winning the whole thing. Over that weekend, we hung out and got dinner with the Nike team. He really was this aw shucks, blue-collar guy who has this flip phone. So I wanted to know, who is this guy?

What did you discover?

Yang: Well, he’s clearly a rabbit—a pacesetter in a race. In that JFK race, everyone thought he’d go 30 or 40 miles with Rob and drop back. But Rob’s wheels came off, and he ended up winning and later signing with the Nike Trail Running team. Fast forward to 2017, here is this guy who has this Steve Prefontaine-esque mindset of racing as hard as you can and giving his best. He even has the mustache.

So, I wanted to tell a three-dimensional story around him with a focus on UTMB as his white whale.

The UTMB crown has alluded every male American that has toed the line in Chamonix, France. It seems like one of the last, to use a climbing analogy, first ascents in running. Zach has been to UTMB three times, once with you there. Were you hoping or waiting to see if Zach could get it?

Yang: I’d be wrong to say the story wasn’t centered around this big, awesome white whale that is UTMB. When I zoom out, I do think that the end we have is kind of perfect. The way the outcome is so imperfect. The finish isn’t a given. For two years, we racked this story. I don’t tell the story about the 2019 race when he dropped out. What we see is his racing style and the only thing that’s a given is how hard you decide to push. That was kind of the spirit of the film.
Miller is now the subject of filmmaker and trail runner Billy Yang’s latest film, Zach. Yang spent years following Miller and capturing every detail of his life for this project that is now available on YouTube.

We caught up with Yang to hear more about what went into the making of his latest project and what he learned from spending so much time with Miller.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

You mention the climbing analogy. My inspiration was actually a film called Free Solo. You can take as many stabs at it and the things you want to do is right in front of you. For Alex Honnold, that was El Capitan. He kept coming back. For Zach, that’s UTMB. Sometimes, it’s just challenging and that mark of a good story is learning how to pivot and complete the story without that Disney outcome.

I finally decided after years of working on this that we needed to wrap this up. We can’t keep chasing this victory that I saw in my head.

Zach is a well-known runner. What do you hope viewers see that they may not have before about him?

Yang: In a way, I’m hoping to introduce him to a new crowd. Zach is a runner, he what makes Zach who is is way more. He grew up in Kenya, and is parents were missionaries. Faith plays a big role in his life. Mentorship and giving back is so important to him. The mindset of ‘do the best you can’ shows in all aspects of his life and at the center of that, I wanted Zach to be a model for people. He’s probably not genetically built like Kilian Jornet or Jim Walmsley or Eliud Kipchoge. But what you see is all the hard work, the miles, and the little things he puts in. He’s so easy to root for.

At the end, we don’t totally see it, but you slightly detail where Zach is at after foot surgery. What’s he up to now?

Yang: He’s not running at the moment. He’s working on building out a short bus that’s turning into a home on wheels. He plans to travel the world in it. That’s the epilogue.

Do you think we see an American man winning UTMB in the coming years?

Yang: I think between Zach, Tim and Jim, and maybe some others no currently at the forefront, someone will do it. Zach said it’s a puzzle you have to put together and for whatever reason, that hasn’t been put together yet. I think it will happen in the next five years and I would bet money it will be one of those three.

Kibiwott Kandie has promised fireworks at next month's Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon when he comes up against former world record holder Geoffrey Kamworor and world champion Jacob Kiplimo

Kandie, who won the event last year in 58:58, said he is unperturbed by the threat posed by the two elite rivals. 

"I am not tense because I know I have been training hard despite the minor hiccups that I have experienced. Kamworor and Kiplimo will be tough nuts to crack but I am only focused on retaining this title because it will provide the right platform for me to push on for the rest of the year," Kandie said. 

In particular, Kandie is wary of the threat posed by Ugandan Kiplimo who he trounced at the Valencia Marathon in December on his way to setting a new world record of 57:32. 

Before that, Kiplimo had beaten Kandie to the finish line at the World Half Marathon Championship in Gdynia, Poland in October to claim the crown. 

"Of course I know  the thought of revenge has crossed his mind. I know he badly wants to win against me but I will try my best to stop that from happening. Kamworor's entry has further muddied the waters but all is well; it is such competitions that build you into a strong athlete," he said. 

Before docking in the United Arab Emirates for RAK Half Marathon, however, Kandie will first have to battle with fellow military athletes for top honours in this Friday's Kenya Defence Forces Cross Country Championships at the Moi Air Base in Eastleigh, Nairobi. 

"The championships will be a test of my preparedness for the major international competitions because there is not much difference between the KDF Cross Country event and the international ones. The competition this Friday will be as tough as that of international events," he said. 

Kandie has also revealed he will resume intense training for the 10,000m race in which he plans to compete at the Tokyo Olympics. After the Olympics, he will be targeting one of the major marathons sometime in November. 

For Kamworor, the RAK Half Marathon represents a comeback opportunity having spent last year on the sidelines after a motorbike accident in June.  In 2019, he set a half marathon world record of 58:01 at the Copenhagen Half Marathon. 

The A-list for the men's race also includes Ethiopian Shura Kitata, who upstaged the odds to trounce world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge to the London Marathon title. 

It will be similarly battle royale in the women's division  as World 5,000m champion Hellen Obiri faces off against world marathon record holder and compatriot Brigid Kosgei.  The RAK Half Marathon will be staged on February 19 after registration closes on January 31. 

5000m champion Hellen Obiri added to Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon line-up

Obiri, who won world titles at 5000m and cross country in 2019, will be making her half marathon debut. The Kenyan has limited road running experience, but her few outings to date have been promising; she clocked 29:59 for 10km on Madrid’s downhill course at the end of 2018.

World half marathon silver medallist Melat Kejeta of Germany and world marathon bronze medallist Helalia Johannes are the other recent top additions to the field, and they will face a formidable line-up of stars, as previously announced by the organisers.

World marathon champion Ruth Chepngetich, who recently set a half marathon PB of 1:05:06, will make her Ras Al Khaimah debut. Peres Jepchirchir, who won the world half marathon title last October in a women-only world record of 1:05:16, will return to the scene of her 2017 triumph when she set a world record of 1:05:06.

The three fastest women in history – world record-holder Ababel Yeshaneh, Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw and marathon world record-holder Brigid Kosgei – will also line up in Ras Al Khaimah.

Yeshaneh and Kosgei have clashed twice to date, both races resulting in world records. Their first duel came at the 2019 Chicago Marathon, which Kosgei won in a world record of 2:14:04 while Yeshaneh placed second in 2:20:51. Just four months later, Yeshaneh levelled the score by winning in Ras Al Khaimah in a world record of 1:04:31. Kosgei was runner-up in 1:04:49, the second-fastest time in history.

Yehualaw, meanwhile, finished third at the recent World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, just a few seconds behind Jepchirchir. Six weeks later, she won the New Delhi Half Marathon in 1:04:46, the second-fastest time in history.

USA’s Sara Hall, who placed second at this year’s London Marathon, and South Africa’s Gerda Steyn are also in the field.

Half marathon world record holder, Geoffrey Kamworor is back after injury lay-off

Geoffrey Kamworor, a former world half marathon champion and half marathon world record holder, has announced his return to after a one-year break.

The 28-year-old Kamworor, who last competed at the National Cross Country Championships on February 15 last year, has joined a rich field heading for the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon due on February 19 in the United Arab Emirates.

Kamworor, who has won the world half marathon title thrice in 2014, 2016 and 2018, has fully recovered from injuries sustained in a freak accident on June 25 last year in Eldoret.

Kamworor was hit from behind by a speeding motorcycle, sustaining injuries on his head and above the ankle and had to be operated on at St Luke's Hospital in Eldoret.

“It's time to race again!” said Kamworor on his Facebook page.

“After months of working hard to recover from my injury, I'm very excited to be on the starting line again in RAK to get my season going.”

The accident saw Kamworor, who won the RAK Half Marathon in 2013, fail to defend his world half marathon title on October 17 last year.

Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo cashed in on Kamworor’s absence to win in a Championship Record (CR) time of 58:49.

Kenya’s Kibiwott Kandie settled for silver also inside the CR time in 58:54 as Amedework Walelegn from Ethiopia went for bronze in 59:08.

Kamworor held the previous CR of 59:08 set when winning the 2014 race.

Kamworor has also had his half marathon world record being snapped by compatriot Kibiwott Kandie, who claimed the Valencia Half Marathon victory in 57:32 on December 6, becoming the first man to run a half marathon under 58 minutes. 

The field in RAK looks sumptuous with Kamworor joining Kandie, who is the defending champion, and Kiplimo, the world half marathon champion, and 2017 and 2018 RAK champion Bedan Karoki.

Kenyan Daniel Simiu turned into a long distance star when he decided running away from bandits

A 24-kilometer walk to school in neighbouring Laikipia also helped build his career.

For nearly three years since joining the elite ranks in athletics, his name has remained the most confusing one.

The confusion in his name is however not as scary as the mention of his origin, which is in an area described as one of Kenya’s most dangerous places to live in due to armed conflict.

Is he Simiu or Simiyu? That’s the confusion athletics fans and sports journalists have been treated to as they struggle to understand an Iten-based track and cross country racer who missed the opportunity to represent Kenya in 5,000m at the 2019 world championships in Doha, Qatar.

Daniel Simiu Ebenyo, 25, shot to fame after powering to a second place at the national World championships trials.

Even Athletics Kenya race officials have been misspelling his name, recording it as Simiyu – a name that is common among the Luhya tribe of Western Kenya. The confusion about his name aside; who is this man Simiu?

In Iten where he trains, he can walk to town and enjoy a cup of hot tea in the evening without attracting any attention, unlike big names including four-time London Marathon champion Mary Keitany, two-time world champion Edna Kiplagat and multiple world marathon major champion Wilson Kipsang among others.

Simiu’s athletics career started in the volatile Baragoi, Samburu County where he ran away from dreaded cattle rustlers at a young age and turned him from a footballer to a runner.

For many years, Baragoi has been synonymous with deadly banditry attacks, but surprisingly birthed Simiu’s athletics talent.

“A mention of Baragoi scares many people, but that is where I was born and grew up. It is the place I call home,” he said.

“As for the name Simiyu, I just got used to it. Some fans and athletes have asked why I can’t represent Western Kenya in local competitions. The good thing is that many people are getting to know me. What they don’t know is that I come from Samburu.”

He says it was while at Aiyam Day secondary school when a 24km trek to the learning institution and back home would make him an athlete.

Walking to school early in the morning and back in the evening, he explains, was the most dangerous journey, since they crossed bandits’ battle grounds along the narrow paths to the institution.

He says because of the long trek to school, which started at 5.30am he became an athlete by default.

Simiu was expected to be in school but teachers who knew the distance from his home to the institution gave him a 30-minute allowance, and he would arrive at 8am.

“It is while in secondary school that I developed interest in athletics. It started as inter-dormitory competitions and I discovered I was good. I also represented my school but I only reached the regional level. My games teacher Maurice Osuma spotted the talent and encouraged me to train harder,” he explains.

He says the distance to Aiyam secondary school would often become longer during moments when bandits were battling along the way.

“I would be forced to take a longer route to escape being attacked by rustlers. It meant increasing my pace to reach school on time,” he recalls.

He never wasted time. In 2016, upon completing his secondary school education, Simiu travelled more than 400km to Iten to train. His elder sister Pauline Eskon, a road runner had come to Iten earlier and she welcomed him when he arrived in the famous high altitude training base.

Simiu who is in top form this season has his sights on a second attempt to represent Kenya in 5,000m at the Olympic Games.

Just 300 runners will be allowed for 2021 Access Bank Lagos City marathon

To stay within the COVID-19 protocol globally, organisers of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon have decided to reduce the number of participants from its usual 100,000 runners to 300 for the 2021 edition, billed for February 13.

The event had over 50,000 runners at the first edition and 73,000 in the second. The number had since increased to 100,000 runners, but the Chief Executive Officer of Nilayo Sports Management Company, Bukola Olopade, told The Guardian yesterday that the sixth edition holding on February 13 will only accommodate 300 runners.

But there seems to be lot of pleasure from foreign athletes, who want to use the silver label Access Bank Lagos City marathon to cement their qualification for other top long distance races across the globe.

Olopade hinted yesterday that of the 300 tickets available for the 2021 edition, foreign runners from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, United Kingdom and the United States of America would get 240 slots, while the remaining tickets will go to selected Nigerian professional runners and clubs.

“A lot of foreign athletes are mounting pleasure on us for tickets to enable them take part in this year’s edition. They want to use Access Bank Lagos City marathon to qualify for some other major marathon races across the world, but we cannot go more than the 300 number,” Olopade said. “We have gotten the approval from both Lagos State Sports Commission and Ministry of Health, and we must do it in accordance with the COVID-19 Protocol globally.”

Olopade, a former sports commissioner in Ogun State disclosed that only five journalists would be allowed to cover this year’s edition, just as he hinted yesterday that the 2021 Lagos City Marathon would be exclusive for the 42km race. “The 10km race and the wheelchair race won’t be part of this year’s edition. The health of the athletes and everyone who will attend the event is very important to us. The absence of the 10km race won’t take away the glamour of the event.”

Olopade also disclosed yesterday that apart from reducing the number of runners, they have also cut down on the number of personalities to be invited for the ceremony. “We won’t have more then 60 guests at the finish point, and everyone must wear nose mask and stay some meters away from one another. He commended Lagos State Government, particularly the Executive Chairman of Lagos State Sports Commission, Sola Aiyepeku, for his support.

“Lagos State has become a sports tourist attraction because of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, so we are always happy to support and make sure that the Marathon happens and get better every year,” Olopade stated.