News31 Oct 2006


Cheruiyot - marathon's hot property even if he can’t remember his last win!

FacebookTwitterEmail

Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot slips as he reaches the finish in Chicago (© Victah Sailer)

Though Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot broke through into true world recognition with his Boston marathon in 2003, this year’s recapture of that city race title and his more recent victory in Chicago, another of road running classics, has suddenly catapulted the 28-year-old Kenyan into another realm making him one of the more sort after talents on the international road running circuit.

Cheruiyot, currently the IAAF World Ranked number three for Road Running, couldn’t have a more illustrious a training partner than World marathon record holder Paul Tergat. He belongs to the same Nandi tribe and hails from the Rift Valley region, and acknowledges he owes much of his success to Tergat, and their Italian distance running coach, Dr. Gabriele Rosa.

“Paul is a very good friend of mine. He is a very good man. We train together in the Ngong Hills, not far from the place where Paul lives. I also train with Titus Munji (2:06:17 PB)”, said Cheruiyot, who revealed his outstanding potential for the first time in February 2002 when he finished runner-up at the Discovery Kenya Half Marathon in 63:09, a race held at 2100 metres of altitude.

“I began running at school and I have trained seriously since I became a professional after finishing school.”

Cheruiyot made an impact at international level for the first time in 2002 when he won the Roma-Ostia Half Marathon in 60:06. Later in the same year he won the Milan Marathon in 2:08:59 after a breathtaking finish in which he just edged the victory from compatriot Michael Rotich and Italian Daniele Caimmi, all three clocking the same time.

Milan was the springboard race for his now promising career which saw him win his first Boston Marathon in April 2003 (2:10:11), a feat which Cheruiyot repeated this year when smashing his PB to 2:07:14, on the famously challenging Boston course. The previous Boston record was held by Cosmas Ndeti who ran 2:07:15 in 1994.

In his build-up to this year’s Boston, Cheruiyot finished runner-up to Martin Lel in the annual spring time Lisbon Half Marathon in 59:35 (downhill course), having also finished second (59:21) in the same race in 2005, on that occasion behind Tergat. 

Mimicking his successful Boston build-up as he prepared for Chicago, Cheruiyot returned to the Portuguese capital for this September's RTP Portugal Half Marathon (24 Sep), and declared his fitness with a comfortable 62:51 win.

Cheruiyot’s victory at the 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on 22 October, in a time of 2:07:35, not far short of his personal best, has further cemented his growing stature, and seeming to courting close marathon finishes he only held off second placer Daniel Njenga by a mere five seconds.

But Cheruiyot’s finish in Chicago was full of more drama than just the closeness of the first and second runners. As Cheruiyot raised his hands in celebration as he crossed the finish-line his feet slipped, and in the process of crashing to the ground he hit his head hard. He did not move for several seconds, and was rushed to hospital where he was treated for internal and external bleeding.

“I am now ok but I don’t remember what happened in Chicago. The only thing I remember is that I was taken to the hospital. I was not even sure that I had won”, said the Kenyan of his accident.

“The win in Chicago means a lot for me because many runners want to go there and clock fast times. Chicago is special because the course is ideal for good performances but at the beginning of the season I did not expect to achieve the Boston-Chicago double.”

Thanks to his Boston-Chicago wins Cheruiyot has now climbed to the top of the leaderboard of the World Marathon Majors circuit ahead of London winner Felix Limo and Berlin first placer Haile Gebrselassie. But he does not think he is favourite to win the 500,000 dollars prize in 2007 when the series ends in New York.

“I am not thinking about winning the World Marathon Majors title. After a period of rest I will start training hard for 2007 but I don’t know yet where I will run next spring. But it’s likely that I will return to Chicago next year”.
        
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

Pages related to this article
Disciplines
Loading...