Kipchoge’s mantra will lift Kenyans in New York

What you need to know:

  • Kipchoge made history by running a 1:59.40.2, a mission that was initially deemed as impossible. His mantra was simple “No Human is Limited.”

Eliud Kipchoge set the tone by breaking the two-hour barrier in the marathon a few days ago in Vienna.

Kipchoge made history by running a 1:59.40.2, a mission that was initially deemed as impossible. His mantra was simple “No Human is Limited.”

Hardly 24 hours later, and inspired by Kipchoge’s slogan, Brigid Kosgei was at it, this time far away at the Chicago Marathon, where she also rewrote history by shaving off almost one and a half minutes on the 16-year-old women’s marathon record previously held by Briton Paula Radcliffe.

Kosgei posted 2:14.04 to erase Radcliffe’s record of 2:15:25.

In the same race, Lawrence Cherono defied stiff competition from Ethiopian arch-rivals to win the men’s race in 2:05:45, his fifth win in his last six marathons. So as Kenyans, we are excited and we can’t wait for next week’s New York Marathon.

Once again, we hope to prevail considering the calibre of a line-up that will represent the country. Key among them are Mary Keitany and Joyciline Jepkosgei in women’s category and Geoffrey Kamworor in the men’s.

Briefly, we know what all these runners can do and I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled another first in New York. Remember, last year, Keitany became the second woman to win in New York in the open division four times, recording the second-fastest time in the event’s history (2:22:48).

It was her fourth win in five years and she’s the only woman other than Grete Waitz to win the race four times.

Keitany is the women-only marathon world record-holder (2:17:01) and is a two-time winner of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, having taken the series in 2012 and 2016.

Jepkosgei is the New York City Half Marathon champion and the world half marathon record holder.

She is also the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships silver medallist. Like Keitany, she is capable of pulling major surprises.

Finally, we have the 2017 New York City Marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor, who finished third last year. We need not say much about him because he is Kipchoge’s training partner and making history is part of his DNA.

He also operates under Kipchoge’s slogan of “No Human is Limited” hence he will be out to prove a point. Kamworor has several accolades including winning World Half Marathon Championships three times and ruling the World Cross Country Championships twice.

He is favourite to win, especially now that his Global Communication camp is taking the world by storm.

I can only wish them luck and I would like to reiterate Kipchoge’s slogan of no human is limited.

Korir is the chairman of Athletics Kenya’s Nairobi branch. [email protected]