Gladys Cherono targets KDF title
What you need to know:
- The groin injury saw the 31-year-old also fail to defend her Africa 5,000m and 10,000m titles in championships that came after the Commonwealth Games.
- Cherono became the first woman to win both 5,000m and 10,000m gold medals during the 2012 African Championships in Benin.
- The KDF Corporal will be at home to battle a rich field that features defending champion Helen Obiri and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games 800m gold medallist Nancy Jebet Lagat.
Former champion Gladys Cherono hopes to reclaim the Kenya Defence Forces Cross-country Championships title on Friday at Kahawa Garrison.
The 2013 champion Cherono, who finished fifth in January last year before going on to win the World Half Marathon three months later in Denmark, sustained an injury that saw her miss the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
The groin injury saw the 31-year-old also fail to defend her Africa 5,000m and 10,000m titles in championships that came after the Commonwealth Games.
Cherono became the first woman to win both 5,000m and 10,000m gold medals during the 2012 African Championships in Benin.
The KDF Corporal will be at home to battle a rich field that features defending champion Helen Obiri and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games 800m gold medallist Nancy Jebet Lagat.
She will use the event to prepare for her full marathon debut at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon a week later.
It will be the perfect opportunity for Cherono to step up to the marathon after many years of success in the shorter distances. In 2013, she became the 10th fastest runner of all time in the half marathon when she set a personal best of 1:06:48 at the Prague Half Marathon, the same year she also claimed silver in 10,000m at the World Championships in Moscow.
KDF athletics official John Koech said they expect a big battle on Friday, considering that the women will also be eyeing places in KDF team for the national championships where a team will be selected for the World Championships set for March 22 in China.
“All is well as we return to Kahawa course since 2012. The course looks great but challenging,” said Koech. The 15km Road Race will set off the day’s proceedings at 7am to be followed by women’s 8km race at 10.30am. The men’s 12km race will start at 11.15am.
Besides Cherono, Obiri and Lagat, Sela Jepleting, who has won several events in the just-concluded Athletics Kenya Cross-country Series, will be in action alongside Peris Nenkampi, former Boston Marathon champion Sharon Cherop and the 2012 champion Linet Chepkirui. Obiri clocked 26:41 to win women’s 8oom race last year, beating Jemima Jelagat 26:56, Jepleting 27:03, Nenkampi 27:04 and Cherono 27:08 in that order.
The men’s 12km race will feature established and upcoming athletes. The 25-year-old Leonard Oloitiptip hopes to bag his third consecutive victory against his fellow youngsters Linus Chumba and Kiplimo Kimutai.
“We have recruited some good youngsters and this will present us with a good opportunity to monitor them, considering that we have both the World Cross and World Championships selection coming up,” said Koech.
