New Delhi: The rivalry between east African nations Kenya and Ethiopia will be rekindled once again on the roads here when the capital hosts the ninth edition of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on Sunday.
Rio Olympics marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge and reigning half marathon world champion Peres Jepchirchir will front a strong Kenyan challenge in the elite groups.
Kipchoge, who clocked a personal best of 59:25 seconds in his debut half marathon at Lille in 2012, would look to replicate the same here. He faces stiff competition from Ethiopia’s Yigrem Demelash, whose best timing is 59:49 and his compatriot Augustine Choge.
Like Kipchoge, Choge will also be running the event for the first time and thanked Kipchoge for being a mentor and motivator. Both will be in competition but said their friendship would be intact on and off the track.
“We are friends no doubt but I am here to win. I would love to lift the title,” said Kipchoge. “The aim is to better my own record as I treat myself as my biggest competitor. Ethiopian athletes are really tough and many of them have run in India before, which gives them an edge. But the Kenyans are no less and on Sunday, we are sure of giving them a run for their money,” he added.
Choge has had a very impressive career, winning medals at the 2016 and 2012 world indoor championship in the 3,000m steeplechase. He was also 2006 Commonwealth Games champion in the 5,000m and has moved to road races, making a successful debut in the half marathon this year in Philadelphia.
In the women’s section, Jepchirchir will look to extend her winning streak to four consecutive half marathons after her recent victory in Valencia. “I will be chasing the course record of 1:06.54 set by my compatriot Mary Keitany in 2009 but my time of 1:07:09 in Valencia showed that I am in good shape,” said Jepchirchir.
But Jepchirchir won’t be the fastest woman on the start line in Delhi. Ethiopia’s Worknesh Degefa and Kenya’s Mary Wacera both have quicker half marathon personal bests, having clocked 1:06:14 and 1:06:29 respectively in races earlier this year.
Home elite athletes aim to clock their personal best
Army runner G. Lakshmanan, who won the TCS World 10K Bengaluru 2016, ADHM 2013 and the Cochin Marathon, returns to the event after a gap of two years and this time his coach has focused on training him for the half marathon. He will participate along with M.D. Yunus, the winner of the Kolkata Marathon 2016 with a timing of 2:30:37 and third at the 2015 edition here, among other prominent names.
In the women’s section, reigning TCS World 10K Bengaluru and 10,000m Federation Cup champion Swati Gadhave is targeting a timing of 1:18.
Promising athlete Sanjeevani Jadhav from Nashik was runner-up at the TCS World 10K Bengaluru in 35:48:78 and She will make her half marathon debut here.
