Three ex-champs parade for StanChart Marathon

Three former winners Kenneth Mung’ara, Joshua Kipkorir and Brimin Kipkorir are out to recapture the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon title when the race goes down at 7am Sunday morning at Nyayo National Stadium.

Mung’ara, the 2013 winner after clocking 2:11:40, represented Kenya in marathon at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. He is back to complete his brace of victories.

The 46-year-old won the Hong Kong Marathon in 2:13:39 on January 21 last year, he finished 10th in 2:25:42 at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on April 15 in the same year before returning to the same venue to win the Airport Marathon on July 1.

The Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon will be Mung'ára’s second race this year, having finished seventh in 2:12:47 at the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon on February 7.

The athlete, who set a personal best of 2:07:36 in finishing second at Praha Marathon on May 8, 2011, in Czech will today be battling Joshua, who triumphed in 2015 in 2:13:25 and Brimin, the 2017 winner in 2:12:39.

Joshua has finished two of his three marathon races his year. He finished second at Lagos City Marathon in February.

“Interestingly, I still feel strong. I will just take it easy and slow and see how the first 20km will go,” said the 25-year-old, who will be making his third appearance at Standard Chartered Nairobi after finishing third in 2017 in 2:13:27 in a race won by Brimin.

“This event is more or less like training for me ahead of the 2020 season where I will be targeting other major races. Most of these races are won mentally,” said Joshua, who has been training in Kaptagat, Elgeyo Marakwet, alongside the likes of this year’s Boston and Chicago Marathon champion Lawrence Cherono.

It will be Brimin’s second marathon race this year, having settled sixth at Wien Marathon in personal best 2:09:31 in Vienna, Austria on April 7.

After winning in Nairobi, Brimin went on to claim seventh place at Linz Marathon on April 15 last year in Austria in 2:15:44 before winning Athens Classic Marathon in 2:10:56 on November 11 of the same year.

On the other hand, the women’s category is also saturated with elite and experienced athletes. Among the competitors is seasoned Georgina Rono, who finished second in 2:32:06, losing the battle to Elizabeth Rumokol in 2:29:32.

Rono, who won the 2014 Hamburg Marathon, 2017 Doha Marathon and 2018 Riga Marathon (Latvia), will be running her first marathon this year.

She will come up against Joan Nancy Rotich, who won this year’s Doha Marathon in January in 2:43:30 and Winny Jepkorir, who finished fourth in 2018 in Daegu. Jepkorir has personal best 2:27:18 from 2017 Valencia Marathon.

The winners in full marathon will pocket Sh2 million each. In total, the prize fund has been increased from Sh8.5 million from last year to Sh10.5 million this year. The race was moved from Uhuru Park to Nyayo Stadium.