Homecoming party planned for Wilson Kipsang
What you need to know:
- Kipsang successfully attacked the course record and fell just a minute outside compatriot Dennis Kimetto’s world record.
- Kipsang clocked two hours, three minutes and 58 seconds, the fastest ever marathon time on Japanese soil.
A grand homecoming party has been planned for Kenya’s new Tokyo Marathon champion Wilson Kipsang in the North Rift on Saturday to celebrate his course record at last Sunday’s race on the streets on the Japanese capital.
Kipsang successfully attacked the course record and fell just a minute outside compatriot Dennis Kimetto’s world record by running two hours, three minutes and 58 seconds, the fastest ever marathon time on Japanese soil.
The athlete, who is also gunning for the Keiyo South Parliamentary seat, is the only human being to have run the marathon four times in under two hours and four minutes.
He arrives at the Eldoret International Airport at 10:30am after which there will be a procession to Eldoret town.
“After a cup of tea in Eldoret town, the procession moves on to Chepkorio, Kaptarakwa, Metkei, Kapkitony and then on to Fluorspar where there will be a grand reception,” Elias Kiptum Maindi, a member of the reception’s organising committee and also an international athlete, said. He was accompanied by another international runner, John Komen.
“I finally made to the finish line in Tokyo first with a time of 2:03:58, breaking the course record and running the fastest time ever in Japan in addition being the first runner in the world to have run four races under 2:04:00,” Kipsang said after winning the Tokyo race last Sunday.
