Kirui and Gelana favourites for the Marugame Half-Marathon
The Marugame Half Marathon usually invites a few great runners every year and 2013 is no exception. Kenya’s Abel Kirui, a two-time IAAF World Championships Marathon gold medallist and London 2012 Olympic Games silver medalist, as well as Ethiopia’s 2012 Olympic Games Marathon champion Tiki Gelana, will be on the start line of the 67th edition of the IAAF Silver Label Road Race on Sunday (3).
Kirui is running the Marugame Half Marathon for the first time and will be hoping that for better luck than in in most of his other Japanese races. He ran the Sapporo Half Marathon in 2010, but finished disappointing 13thwith a modest 1:04:17, and also started the 2008 Tokyo Marathon but failed to finish the race.
Gelana going for course record
The Ethiopian is the defending Marugame Half Marathon women’s champion, having won the last year’s race with 1:08:48. Since then, she has improved her Marathon best to 2:18:58 in the Rotterdam Marathon last April and then won the Olympic Marathon.
Six weeks after London, Gelana was third behind Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba and Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat in Great North Run in North East England but ran a Half Marathon personal best of 1:07:48.
Read more at IAAF.org
