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Strong field for Kebirigo 10km race

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Published on Friday, 05 October 2007 17:34
Amsterdam Marathon champion Solomon Bushendich returns to Kebirigo tomorrow seeking to go through the same ritual that saw him win the Netherlands race on his marathon debut last year. Bushendich will be in Kebirigo to also defend the Safaricom Kebirigo 10km Road Race title he clinched in his first appearance last year, a week before he travelled to the Netherlands for his marathon debut that also saw him cruise to victory in an impressive time of two hours and eight minutes.

The women’s race’s defending champion, Caroline Cheptanui, who won last year’s race in 34:29.0, will also be out to keep her title with the biggest opposition expected from the Kiptenden Athletics Club of Kericho which has been the biggest contributor to Kenya’s Junior athletics teams.  Like Bushendich, several athletes will be using the annual Kebirigo race, one of Kenya’s fastest growing 10km road races, to test their speed ahead of several big city marathons lined up in Europe and Asia in the coming weeks.

Starts at Ting’a market

Bushendich will seek to defend his title in Amsterdam on October 21.  His winning time in Kebirigo last year was 29 minutes, 07.03 seconds, less than 10 seconds faster that Kenya’s Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth Marathon Series team member Edward Muge (29:16.04) who was second.

Thomas Longosiwa (29:36.09) was third. Muge and Longosiwa are also expected for tomorrow’s race that will start at the Ting’a Market at 8 am and finish in Kebirigo. Another top marathoner who is also expected in Kebirigo is Seoul and Frankfurt Marathon champion Jason Mbote who recently won the Kapsabet Half Marathon. Mbote is also targeting this month’s Amsterdam Marathon title.

Middle distance star Elkanah Angwenyi will also be in Nyamira with the local hero, Boaz Mayaka, eighth last year, missing out after travelling to Germany last week. The Safaricom Kebirigo Road Race is the final race in the Safaricom Gusii Golden Series which started with the Super Tariffic Kisii 10km Road Race in August followed by the Saasa Tariff Gucha 10km Road Race in Ogembo town last month. A Sh100,000 jackpot awaits the most consistent athletes in series.