Kipyego out to keep Amsterdam Marathon title

Kenyan athletes have thrown down the gauntlet to their rivals ahead of this year’s Amsterdam Marathon due on Sunday in the Netherlands.

Two-time champion Bernard Kipyego has a battle at hand against fellow Kenyans Wilson Chebet and Sammy Kitwara. However, Ethiopian Dino Sefir should provide a different kind of challenge for the Kenyans in the men’s race.

The 2012 London Olympic Games marathon silver medallist Priscah Jeptoo takes the battle to the 2009 World 10,000m silver medallist Meselech Melkamu from Ethiopia in the women’s race.

Kipyego, who has won the past two editions of the Amsterdam Marathon, will be looking to complete a hat-trick of victories in the Dutch capital and become the only other man to have won it thrice after Chebet, who was been nicknamed ‘Mr. Amsterdam” for his exploits.

“I also aim to lower the course record,” said Kipyego, who will target Chebet’s mark of 2:05:36 set in 2013.

SIXTH APPEARANCE

Chebet will do everything he can to retain his course record on his sixth appearance at Amsterdam where he won in 2011, 2012 and 2013, to earn the nickname ‘Mr Amsterdam’.

The Kenyans will have to fend off Sefir with both having run faster than 2:05:00.

Kitwara ran his personal best at the 2014 Chicago Marathon, where he finished second in 2:04:28. He has finished in the top four in Chicago on four occasions, and has twice been runner-up, but the 29-year-old Kenyan will be aiming to secure his first marathon victory in Amsterdam next month.

Sefir has big plans for his return to the Dutch capital. The Ethiopian dropped out of the 2014 Amsterdam Marathon due to illness but has returned to form this year, winning the Barcelona and Ottawa Marathons. His personal best of 2:04:50 was set at the 2012 Dubai Marathon.

Only two Ethiopians have interrupted Kenyans dominance in the last  15 years; Haile Gebrselassie when he won the 2005 race in in a course record time of 2:06:20 and Getu Feleke in 2010 also in a course record 2:05:44.

Back to the women’s battle, Jeptoo won the 2011 Paris Marathon and two years later took top honours at the London and New York City Marathons.

Her trophy cabinet also holds an Olympic silver medal from the 2012 Games in London where she finished five seconds behind winner Tiki Gelana.

Jeptoo have been struggling with injuries, having broken her leg during the 2014 London Marathon. The years that followed have been difficult for the 32-year-old who hasn’t again managed to threaten her personal best of 2:20:14 set at the 2012 London Marathon where she finished third.

“I have been training hard and I am feeling really fit,” Jeptoo said. “I am really looking forward to Amsterdam and will be delighted if I can run it in 2:22.”

Melkamu has had an equally impressive career on the roads, the track on in cross country. In cross, the Ethiopian won five bronze medals at IAAF World Cross Country Championships and on the track set an African record of 29:53.83 in the 10,000m, two months before winning a silver medal in the event at the world championships.

In 2012, she shifted her focus to the marathon. She made an impressive debut, winning the Frankfurt Marathon in 2:21:01, still the career best for the 31-year-old. She’s come close to that mark twice already this year, first with a 2:22:29 run in Dubai in January where she finished third, and again in April when she won the Hamburg Marathon in 2:21:54.

Ethiopian Abebech Afework, who clocked 2:23:33 in Dubai last year and Kenyan Lucy Karimi, who won the Prague Marathon in May in 2:24:46, will also be in the field.

The women’s race has been a battle between Kenya and Ethiopia in the last 15 years.

Kenya’s Joyce Chepkirui is the last Kenya to win it last year while Betelhem Moges claimed victory in 2014.