Bangsaen21 Half Marathon: Mutiso and Wanjiru in motion as Kenyan contingent set to face stiff competitors

Bangsaen21 Half Marathon: Mutiso and Wanjiru in motion as Kenyan contingent set to face stiff competitors

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Rosemary Wanjiru and Alexander Mutiso will lead Kenya’s contingent within the Bangsen21 Marathon set to be held in Thailand on Sunday, December 15, 2024.

Kenya’s hope of victory lies in Munyao, because the London Marathon champion will begin because the quickest within the males’s race because of the non-public better of 57:59 he set in Valencia in 2020. He ran his marathon finest of two:03:11 in the identical metropolis in December final 12 months and extra just lately gained in London in April, operating 2:04:01.

Geoffrey Toroitich, plus Ethiopia’s Nibret Melak, Leul Gebresilase, and Bazezew Asmare, are his rivals in Chon Buri.

Toroitich ran his half marathon better of 59:13 in Malaga final 12 months and gained a 10km race in Chon Buri in 29:41 in May. Gebresilase is the world marathon bronze medallist who completed second within the London Marathon in 2022 and ran his half marathon private better of 59:18 again in 2017, whereas African 10,000m champion Melak, who completed seventh within the half marathon on the World Road Running Championships final 12 months, has a better of 59:06 as per World Athletics.

Women’s race

Wanjiru might be returning to the competitors for the primary time since her runner-up end on the Tokyo Marathon in March. She gained in Tokyo in 2023 and in addition completed second in 2022, operating her marathon PB of two:16:14 this 12 months, whereas her half marathon better of 1:05:34 was achieved in Ras Al Khaimah in 2020.

In her crew she has Gladys Chepkurui, who completed third in Barcelona in 1:06:34 in February and was runner-up within the New York City Half in March. Her most up-to-date efficiency is a second place within the 10-mile Dam tot Damloop in Amsterdam in September in 51:36, whereas she set her half marathon better of 1:05:46 in Barcelona final 12 months.

Winfridah Moseti achieved her half marathon better of 1:05:59 in Malaga in March and went on to complete second within the Hamburg Marathon, setting a PB of two:18:25. She was additionally third within the Amsterdam Marathon in October.

The Kenyan crew will face prime rivalry from Ethiopia with Tigist Asefa main.

This might be Assefa’s race; it is going to be her first as an Olympic silver medallist. The former world marathon record-holder, who clocked 2:11:53 in Berlin final 12 months, was a slim second to Sifan Hassan within the Olympic marathon in Paris in August, and previous to that she completed second within the London Marathon in April in 2:16:23. She final raced a half marathon in 2022, and her private better of 1:07:28 dates again to April of that 12 months.