Rehima Kedir back to defend Hong Kong title
The 19th edition of the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon will take place early on Sunday morning (25), with Ethiopia’s Rehima Kedir defending the women’s title at the IAAF Silver Label Road Race she won 12 months ago.
Like last year, Kedir isn’t the fastest woman in the field – her best is a relatively modest 2:32:11 when finishing sixth at the 2011 Daegu Marathon – but having paid her own way to Hong Kong in 2014, the astute investment paid off handsomely when she took home the first prize of US$65,000.
Kedir, along with her two compatriots and training partners Selomie Getnet and Afera Godefay, as well as Kenya’s Beatrice Toroitich, should be in the mix for the top places.
There are also two good runners from DPR Korea, Kim Mi Gyong and Kim Hye Gyong, with bests of 2.26.32 and 2.27.04 respectively, which means that the course record of 2:30:12, set in 2012 by Ethiopia’s Misiker Demissie, might be challenged.
Ethiopia’s 2014 men’s champion Feyera Gemeda has been unable to return owing to injury but that race promises to be closely competitive, with ten sub-2.10 men on the start line.
Ethiopia’s Dejere Abera currently holds the Hong Kong course record with 2:11:27 and the word from the various training camps indicates that the recent Ethiopian grip on the Hong Kong men’s title is likely to continue via Wosen Zeleke, Girma Assefa or Solomon Tsige.
Read more at: IAAF.org
