Benjamin Kipchumba Kemboi winning the Nairobi Marathon (© Omulo Okoth)
Nairobi, KenyaThe stage is set for the third edition of the Standard Chartered Nairobi International Marathon to be run on Sunday, October 23.
It will be the first leg of a four-race series known as 'The Greatest Race on Earth,' sponsored by the Standard Chartered Group. The other races will take place in Singapore (4 December), Mumbai (15 January) and Hong Kong (12 February).
The Nairobi leg, to be run on an altitude of 5,500 feet (1,680m) above sea level, is again expected to attract a modest field of former big name stars along with aspiring world beaters, who use it to launch their careers.
Chilapong, last year's surprise winner, returns to defend
The classic example was last year's women's winner, the 28-year-old mother-of-four Chemokil Chilapong, who upset twice London Marathon champion Joyce Chepchumba to run away with the title and Sh1.2m (approx. USD 12,500) in prize money.
This was her first full marathon race, after winning a 10km race organised by former two-time New York City Marathon champion, Tegla Loroupe, in her native pastoralist Pokot community. In fact, Chilapong sold a goat to enable her to raise fare to travel to the Kenyan capital for the race.
After her victory, she was catapulted to national fame and even landed a trip to Italy to train at the Fila camp, but an injury put paid to her ambitions for the rest of the year.
She is back this year for a repeat performance. She won't face a tough opponent the likes of Chepchumba this year, but she has veteran road racer Delilah Asiago to contend with. From the two will most likely emerge the women's winner.
Osoro continues comeback
Ondoro Osoro will be returning to domestic competition after a decade, determined to make a repeat of his debut victory in Chicago in 1999 when he posted the third fastest performance of all time, 2:06:54, just two minutes, 59 seconds off the current marathon World record.
Osoro survived an assassin's bullet shortly after his victory in Chicago when he was waylaid by highway robbers who took away with his double cabin Toyota 4WD pick up truck. He has since recovered and is coaching in one of the Kenyan Armed Forces units, some 200km west of Nairobi.
Loroupe leads strong series team
Loroupe, the former women's World marathon record holder, has opted for the 'Greatest Race on Earth' circuit, where she has entered an impressive team in all the four races. The marathon 'queen' will spearhead a women's team that brings together Irene Cherotich, Mary Ptikany and Emily Kimuria.
Cherotich, ranked 14th at the 10 miles last year having won the Lelystad 16km in the Netherlands, is expected to set the ball rolling in Nairobi on Sunday.
Her men's stable includes top runners like Joseph Ngolepus, Christopher Cheboiboch, Moses Masai and Ernest Kipyego. Cheboiboich, who is fresh from victory in the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in San Diego last June where he clocked 2:09:17, will compete in Hong Kong.
Ngolepus, another veteran of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon after winning last year, was the winner in Berlin in 2001 after another tenacious run in Palermo in Italy a year earlier. He will be running in Mumbai for the first time. He was third in New York in 2003 (2:07:57) and returned to Berlin last month where he finished fifth. Young Moses Masai, a former contender in the Kenyan cross-country title, won the Karstadt Ruhr Marathon in Germany in 2:10:13 last April, while Kipyego is a young athlete on the run and Singapore will be his first stop.
Toronto Marathon champion, Simon Bor, will lead the Kenyan national team. Bor, a previous winner in the Los Angeles (1999) and Amsterdam (1998) Marathon, will team up with Paul Bor, Stanley Leleito (2:10.03) and Edward Muge (2:08.03), to help ensure that the overall title remains in Kenya at the end of the series in Hong Kong, on 24 February.
Omulo Okoth (The Standard) for IAAF
