Jeptoo, Jepkorir go hunting in StanChart Nairobi Marathon
Prisca Jeptoo celebrates after claiming silver in the women's marathon race during the London Olympic Games at Mall in London on August 5, 2012.
What you need to know:
- The race will start at Carnivore grounds at 6.45am, then the athletes will to the Southern Bypass towards Ole Sereni and Nairobi National Park before the making a turn at Hari/ICD Industrial Park.
The 19th edition of the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon gets underway this morning with the elite athletes battling on the scenic Southern Bypass at the backdrop of the Nairobi National Park.
The race will start at Carnivore grounds at 6.45am, then the athletes will to the Southern Bypass towards Ole Sereni and Nairobi National Park before the making a turn at Hari/ICD Industrial Park.
They will then will take the opposite way back to the Nairobi National Park and Ole Sereni and all the way to the Lang’ata Road Interchange-Ngong Road interchange.
They will then make a turn at Dagoretti Road interchange and back to Uhuru Gardens where the race will end.
The women’s 42km race promises to be a thriller with the Uhuru Classic Marathon second place finisher Shyline Jepkorir taking the battle to the 2012 Olympic Games marathon silver medallist Prisca Jeptoo.
Jeptoo won the London and New York Marathon in 2013.
Jeptoo, who finished sixth at Hamburg Marathon in 2:28:48 in April but failed to finish the race at Lisbon Marathon three weeks ago, will be hoping for good tidings.
Jeptoo, who won silver in marathon at the 2011 World Championships, is yet to regain her footing since taking a break in 2016 before returning in 2019.
She finished ninth at the 2019 Valencia Marathon, 10th at the 2021 Paris Marathon before her performances in Hamburg and Portugal this year.
It will be Jepkorir’s second marathon this year, having finished second at Eldoret City Marathon in 2:30:13 on April 10. It will be her second appearance at Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon after she secured second place in the half marathon in 2019.
Some of the big guns in the men’s category are Ezra Tanui, who finished second at Madrid Half Marathon last year and third at Santa Pola Half Marathon in January this year all in Spain.
He will face seasoned distance runners Asbel Kipruto, Bravin Kiprop among others.
The 2019 Family Bank Half Marathon and 2021 Nakuru Half Marathon winner Daniel Simiu will highlight the men's half marathon that starts at 7am.
It will be the first race for Simiu since claiming silver in 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on August 2 where he lost to Uganda’s World 10,000m bronze medallist Jacob Kiplimo.
“My training is well on course and I feel nice. I hope to open the new season with a good result in Nairobi,” said Simiu, who has a personal best 1:00:45 from the 2019 Laayoune Half Marathon in Morocco.
“This forms part of my preps for a major half marathon race next month,” said Simiu, the 2019 Eldoret Half Marathon winner.
Peter Gitau, the chairman of the Local Organising Committee, said over 15,000 participants are expected to compete in various race categories.
Apart from the full 42km marathon and 21km, there will also be the 21km wheelchair race, 10km, 42 m corporate relay race and family fun race.
The 10km race has attracted the highest number of participants at 6,509, followed by the half marathon at 4,000.
Close to 900 athletes have registered for the full marathon, 2700 for the family fun race and 97 for the wheelchair race. Fourteen teams will compete in the 42km corporate relay race.
The race is being staged for the second time on the Southern Bypass away from the traditional course which was on Uhuru Highway and Mombasa Road.
Adera Amollo clocked 2:05:30 to win the men’s marathon with Valentine Kipketer going for women’s honours in 2:30:02 last year.
