Battle of counties to play out in Sunday’s London Marathon

What you need to know:

  • The athletics rivalry between Nandi and Elgeyo-Marakwet counties has grown so intense lately
  • In Iten, Bank of Africa has set up a viewing centre for the race at the Keellu Resort which is owned by Kipsang who is also the president of the Professional Athletes’ Association of Kenya (PAAK).
  • Governors Alex Tolgos (Elgeyo-Marakwet) and Cleophas Lagat (Nandi) will hope the titles come to their counties

While Kenyans will, in unison, be cheering their elite runners in Sunday’s London Marathon, the situation will be a lot more different in the North Rift where individual counties will be rooting for their own.

The athletics rivalry between Nandi and Elgeyo-Marakwet counties has grown so intense lately and will be highlighted by the much-touted battle between defending champion and World Marathon Majors title-holder Eliud Kipchoge (inset) of Kapsisiywa, Nandi County, and former winner Wilson Kipsang of Musukut, near Flourspar in Elgeyo-Marakwet County.

And the supporting cast will have “Source of Champions” Nandi’s Stanley Biwott, who hails from Mosoriot and is the New York Marathon champion, and “Home of Champions” Elgeyo-Marakwet’s Dennis Kimetto, the world marathon record holder.

The “fantastic four” have tongues wagging in Iten and Kapsabet, the capitals of Elgeyo-Marakwet and Nandi counties where fans will be watching tomorrow’s race with bated breath.

In Iten, Bank of Africa has set up a viewing centre for the race at the Keellu Resort which is owned by Kipsang who is also the president of the Professional Athletes’ Association of Kenya (PAAK).

Besides the viewing, the athletes will be taken through investment and banking by the Bank of Africa team led by marketing head Josephine Njuguna and its Eldoret branch manager Jeremiah Kayago.

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Anti-doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) will also advise the athletes on taxation and anti-doping issues with Adak also expected to explain the new Anti-doping Law.

Eldoret’s Mediheal Group of Hospitals, through marketing manager Ken Osike, have also announced a free medical clinic for the athletes at the Keellu Resort before, during and after the London Marathon.

Governors Alex Tolgos (Elgeyo-Marakwet) and Cleophas Lagat (Nandi) will hope the titles come to their counties, with Tolgos expected to join the crowd at Keellu Resort for the viewing of tomorrow’s race which starts at 11:20am with the elite women’s blast-off.

After the disappointment of losing both men’s and women’s titles to Ethiopia at the Boston Marathon last Monday, fans in the North Rift will hope that any of the “fantastic four” takes the honours in London on Sunday.

Of the quartet, Kimetto, who hails from Kamwosor in Keiyo South, has the fastest time, the current world record of two hours, two minutes and 57 seconds.

After a catalogue of injuries, Kimetto, who like county-mate Kipsang runs for Dutchman Gerard van de Veen’s Volare Sport team, believes he is back in winning shape and could lower his world mark to 2:02:40.

“My training has been good and I’ve got no injuries. If you compare, it is the same,” he told journalists in London this week. “Maybe I will try in September to get the world record. For me, I’m targeting around 2:02:40.”

The quartet will face stiff competition from Ethiopia’s multiple track world and Olympic champion and record holder Kenenisa Bekele who has been struggling with form since running a course record 2:05:04 on his debut at the Paris Marathon in 2014.

Bekele has struggled with the longer distance despite boasting 11 world cross country titles, three Olympic gold medals and five world championships wins among his stellar collection.

Also in the mix is Eritrea’s surprise world champion Ghirmay Ghebrselassie who will be out to prove that he is not merely a championship runner but who could lose out due to his relative inexperience in big city marathons.

The women’s race will also see inter-county rivalries with Elgeyo-Marakwet’s two-time London champion Mary Keitany and world half marathon record holder Florence Kiplagat coming up against Nandi’s Priscah Jeptoo, the Olympic silver medallist.

STRONG BATTLE

Jeptoo is from Chepnoet in Nandi County while Kiplagat hails from Kapkitony in Keiyo South, Elgeyo Marakwet County.

Keitany, the World Marathon Majors title-holder, is sort of a mixed bag as while she hails from Baringo County, she was married in Moiben (Uasin Gishu County) but has settled in Iten, Elgeyo-Marakwet County, where the locals consider her as one of their own and will be backing her to complete a hat-trick of London victories.

The Kenyan trio will face a stiff challenge from Ethiopia’s defending champion Tigist Tufa, who upset Keitany last year, and Aselefesh Mergia who occasionally trains in Iten at Lornah Kiplagat’s High Altitude Training Centre.

“Last year, my body was not reacting well when we were going slow. This time around, I think I’m good enough to run well on Sunday and run a good time,” Keitany said in a pre-race conference in London.

Jeptoo is targeting an improvement of her personal best of 2:20:14 on the streets of London in a race she won in 2013, a year after bagging silver on the same streets in the Olympic Games. After dropping out in 2014 with a stress fracture, she finished seventh last year.