A group of promising Kenyan athletes, Britain’s Mo Farah and Sweden’s Mustafa Mohammed will lead the foreign charge at next month’s Toyota Great Ethiopian Race.
Gilbert Yegon, who finished third in the half marathon race at the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon with 1:02:43, will team up with Raymond Tanui in the men’s race. Tanui won the Bath Half Marathon in 1:05:21 in March.
In the women’s race, Kenyans’ hopes rest on Valentine Kipketer and Joyce Kandia.
Kipketer finished fifth (17:50) over 5.35km in the Diekirch Eurocross, IAAF Cross Country Permit meeting in Luxemborg in February. She won the 15km women’s race during the Chepkoilel Cross-Country meeting a fortnight ago with 53:47.83 reading on the clock.
Kandia won the 2006 Belfast Marathon (2:43:11) and last month, she breezed to the tape in 34:30 to take the Baxters River Ness 10km in Scotland.
The Kenyan quartet will try to go one better than their compatriots Nathan Naibei and Lineth Chepkirui who recorded second-place finishes in the race in 2005 and 2006.
European Cup 5,000m champion, Farah, is training in Addis Ababa in preparation for the European Cross-Country Championships in Brussels.
Farah arrived in Addis at the end of October and plans to return to Britain at the end of November.
With Deriba Merga (fourth at the Beijing Olympics) and Tsegaye Kebede (Olympic Marathon bronze) as winners of the race in 2006 and last year, the event has become an important development race for upcoming Ethiopian athletes.
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More than 400 top club runners are expected to confirm their entry in the next 10 days, alongside the 32,000 entered.
Meanwhile, a busy season awaits athletes in the North Rift region as Athletics Kenya released a calendar of events for the branch, adds Joseph Ngure.
The branch meeting was chaired by national assistant secretary, Ibrahim Hussein. The season kicks off this weekend with the Tegla Loroupe 10km road race at Makutano Stadium, Kapenguria.
The Tuskys Wareng Cross-country will be held at Huruma open ground in Eldoret on November 30 and the Baringo Half-Marathon, sponsored by Safaricom, on December 6 in Kabarnet.
Shoe For Africa, a women’s exclusive event, will be held on December 20 in Iten with Eldoret hosting the sixth Kenya Commercial Bank/AK cross-country on January 10 at Kazi Mingi.
Other events: Discovery Kenya Cross-country on January 25 (Eldoret Sports Club), Discovery Kenya Half-marathon February 1 (Eldoret Town) and District Cross-country championships February 7.