Samuel Wanjiru in The Hague / Den Haag - wins in a time of 58:33 (© c)
The 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships in Udine, Italy on 14 October, will be another record breaking opportunity for Samuel Wanjiru who is leading the Kenya team there.
Wanjiru, who broke the World record for Half Marathon with a 58:33 run on the 17 March this year in The Hague, leads a team of ten runners from Kenya who will compete over that distance at this year’s World Road Running Championships, which in 2006 were contested over 20km.
Speaking on phone from his training base in Japan where he is preparing the Udine, Wanjiru stated that he will attempt a new record in Udine just for the fun of it.
Wanjiru visited the course recently under the invitation of the organisers and surveyed it in minute detail and is convinced that a new record is possible
"Organisers invited me to Udine recently and what I saw was good," said Wanjiru. Click here for previous story
"I will attempt a World record there as I close the year and set my sights on a career in the full marathon," said Wanjiru who opted out of the Osaka World championships at the 10,000 metres despite being given a wild card after finishing fourth in the Kenyan trials.
He is eyeing the 2007 New York Marathon and predicted that if all goes well, he could be looking towards an exciting career with the Beijing Olympics being his main target of 2008.
UPDATE: 26 September 2007: Wanjiru's participation in the ING New York City Marathon, 4 November 2007, was confirmed by the organisers
Wanjiru is among 10 athletes named by Athletics Kenya for Udine with Kenya hoping to improve even further on their tally from 2006, when they took both team titles, individual silver and bronze in the men’s 20k and bronze in the women’s 20km.
Kenya has included Robert Kipkorir Kipchumba who was second last year in the inaugural edition in Debrecen as well as Patrick Makau Musyoka, the second fastest runner in the world over the half marathon distance this year (1st, 58:56, Berlin, 1 April).
Evans Kiprop Cheruiyot, winner of the Rotterdam half on 9 September with 59:12, is another medal hopeful.
Previous winner of the Rotterdam marathon Susan Chepkemei leads the women's team together with Pamela Chepchumba, sixth at this year’s World Cross Country championships in Mombasa.
Peter Njenga (Kenya Times) for the IAAF
Kenyan squad
Men: Sammuel Wanjiru, Patrick Makau Musyoka, Francis
Kibiwott, Robert Kipkorir Kipchumba, Evans Kiprop
Cheruiyot.
Women: Susan Chepkemei, Alice Timbilil, Mary
Jepkosgei, Pamela Chepchumba, Everline Kemunto Kimwei
