Emily Chebet out to reclaim Eldoret City Marathon

Emily Chebet will be out to defend her title when the fifth edition of the Eldoret City Marathon goes down on October 1.

Chebet won last year's race in 2:29:58 ahead of Shyline Jepkorir (2:30:13) while Lilian Jelagat (2:30:23) was third.

“Kenya is known to be the manufacturer of athletes and I’m happy because the Eldoret City Marathon shaped my career because it was my first time to compete in a 42km race," Chebet said.

"I will be happy to compete once again and defend my title though I know competition will be stiff,” Chebet, who trains in Kericho County alongside world bronze medallist Beatrice Chebet, said.

She also commended the organisers of the race for promoting climate action.

“When training, we need clean air. The race promotes planting of trees across the country which means the whole community will be benefit in terms of getting clean air and good climate conditions,” added Emily Chebet.

Mercy Kipchumba, winner of the race in 2021, is back from injury and will be seeking to relcim her title.

“I think I’m in good condition and I will be discussing with my coach if I would compete in the race but that’s my target. The Eldoret City Marathon has indeed shaped my life because I managed to buy land and built a house after I was rewarded,” said Kipchumba.

The race will also be graced by two Ethiopian athletes, Dejene Hailu and Meseret Harda, who are last years’ winners of Bokoji 10km road race and are invited through a partnership between Eldoret City Marathon and the Great Ethiopian Run in Ethiopia.

Three athletes from Tanzania and six from the neighbouring Uganda and other countries are also expected to grace the race.

Race director, two-time Boston Marathon champion, Moses Tanui, believes the marathon will give more athletes a platform to expose their talent.

“Since we started four years ago, we have seen athletes develop and do well internationally and the perfect example is the 2022 World marathon silver medallist Judith Korir who was second in the 2022 edition," Tanui said.

“That shows that the race, which is open for everybody, can propel one to global space and we want to grow the race and make it bigger,” added Tanui.

The race chairman, Andrew Chelogoi, said that they want to build a race that will be rival the big city marathons.

The race has a new partner, Gulf Royal and Economic Global Holding, under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Majid Al Qassami, a member of the ruling family of Sharjah from the United Arab Emirates.