Kenyan stars pick of the lot in battle for New York crowns

IN NEW YORK CITY

The TCS New York City Marathon is a special race in many ways.

First, it’s the world’s biggest marathon race.

Second, you would never know just who will show up to run.

Hip hop artiste Sean “P Diddy” Combs is among the big celebrities to have conquered New York’s five boroughs in the annual race, running the 2003 edition.

He is among thousands of charity runners who annually pound the streets of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan, having raised $2 million (Sh200 million in today’s exchange rates) for a children’s charity in his 2003 appearance.

“I’ve never experienced mental or physical pain like that,” P Diddy said after crossing the finish line at Central Park in four hours, 14 minutes and 54 seconds, finishing 11,359th from a field of 35,000 runners.

P Diddy’s race preparations included eight weeks of intensive training and dieting, two weeks of abstention from sex and limiting himself to one party a week.

In Sunday’s race, the celebrity line-up includes Estonia president Kersti Kaljulaid, named in 2017 as among the world’s top 100 most influential female politicians.

He was at Friday night’s opening ceremony, marching past with the Estonian delegation at Central Park. Kenya’s elite field, celebrities by right, will feature five runners, each capable of a podium finish.

Well, their pre-race rituals are a whole world apart from P Diddy’s, with defending champion Geoffrey Kamworor having clocked about 250 kilometres-a-week in training at Kaptagat where he has world record holder Eliud Kipchoge for company. Abstention from sex? We’ll pose that to the champ later.

KEITANY HUNGRY FOR MORE SUCCESS

Last year’s London Marathon winner Daniel Wanjiru and two-time Eindhoven Marathon champion Festus Talam complete Kenya’s men’s line up.

The women’s elite field has three-time winner Mary Keitany and the marathon’s latest sensation, Vivian Cheruiyot, who will be running her fourth marathon.

Given the tough course and inclement weather, don’t expect Kipchoge’s two hours, one minute and 38 seconds world record to be under any threat.

Rather, it will be a battle of wits and mind games and the TCS New York Marathon doesn’t have any pacesetters and the athletes have to think on their feet.

“Last year was my first marathon major win,” Kamworor, 25, said in his pre-race comments.

“I feel good, the preparations were good and I feel motivated by my training partner Eliud Kipchoge’s world record run in Berlin.”

Kamworor won last year’s race in 2:10:53, holding off former world record holder Wilson Kipsang in a dash to the finish.

Talam, nicknamed “the grasshopper of Baringo”, is pretty much the dark horse here along with Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola who won last year’s Dubai Marathon (2:04:11) and finished second to Kenya’s Geoffrey Kirui at the World Championships in London (2:09:49).

Keitany, 36, has won three titles at the “Big Apple” in 2014, 2015 and 2016, finishing second last year (2:27:45) to home girl Shalane Flanagan (2:26:53).

She also boasts three London Marathon wins and is one of the world’s most successful female marathon runners.

Today, she won’t be chasing time but, simply, a fourth title.

“My training has been good and I’m ready for the race. I wanna run a smart race,” said Iten-based Keitany who travelled here with her husband Charles Koech and children.

“If I struggle and work hard now, they will have a good future tomorrow,” the dotting mother chipped in at the pre-race press conference.

Cheruiyot will also bank on family support having travelled here with her husband-coach Moses Kiplagat Kirui and five-year-old son Allan.

Running her fourth marathon, Cheruiyot, 35, has had remarkable success on the road so far winning last year’s Frankfurt Marathon in 2:23:35 after finishing fourth in the London Marathon (2:23:50) on her debut over 42 kilometres earlier in the year. She won this year’s London Marathon in a personal best 2:18:31 and will be looking to close the year on another high.

“The marathon is more challenging than track because for the track, you don’t have to train as much as for the marathon,” the Olympic 5,000 metres champion said.