byLarry Eder
Stanley Biwott and Wilson Kipsang, photo courtesy of Virgin London Marathon
The fields in both the men’s and women’s races for the 2015 Virgin London Marathon are truly, astounding. Having current and former WR holders, four of five fastest men EVER, on the women’s side, the race field is, well seismic.
Anyhow, Justin Lagat writes from his home in Kenya, how he views the 2015 Virgin Money London Marathon fields.
In any case, Mr. Bedford has assembled a vast and exciting field.
Kenyans to watch out for this Sunday at the London Marathon, by Justin Lagat
The Kenyan elite men lining up the starting line of the London Marathon this Sunday include some of the fastest marathon runners in history. In this field are the men who won the World Marathon Major races last year; Wilson Kipsang won both the London and the New York marathons, Dennis Kimetto won the Berlin marathon and Eliud Kipchoge won the Chicago marathon. As if that was not enough, they also added the runner ups who had battled with these runners up to the finish lines in their various races last year. Emmanuel Mutai will get a chance to race Dennis Kimetto again after the two broke the world record together last year in Berlin; Sammy Kitwara will have a second chance to try and not let Kipchoge break away from him again like he did in Chicago and Stanley Biwott will be meeting Wilson Kipsang again on the same course.
What will also be interesting to watch will be the battle between the immediate former world record holder, Wilson Kipsang and the current record holder, Dennis Kimetto. It will be interesting to see how the race will play out when the two of them finally meet in a major marathon race. Will it be a fast race? Will the two concentrate on beating each other and another runner seize the opportunity to surprise them?
Out of all the top five runners who hold the fastest times ever recorded in the history of marathon, only one, Moses Mosop, will not be turning up in London. The slowest of these top four is Wilson Kipsang with a time of 2:03.23, the others being Dennis Kimetto, Geoffrey Mutai and Emmanuel Mutai. It will be interesting to see what time the best runner will run in London when all of them are competing against each other.
On the women’s side, it is also not an easy task trying to predict who will emerge the winner given the strong line up that will be there.
Edna Kiplagat is the defending champion of the London Marathon. She is one of the runners who has run many times here and knows a lot about the course having finished 3rd in 2011, 2nd in 2012 and 2013 before finally winning it in 2014. Will she manage to defend her title?
Mary Keitany came back successfully last year and managed to win New York marathon, a great indication that she is back to her former form. She also ran an impressive time this year to win the prestigious RAK half marathon. Most people I have met here are looking forward to watching her run the London marathon on Sunday.
Florence Kiplagat repeated another world record run in the women half marathon early this year in Barcelona by running 1:05.09. She had also broken the record last year and later finished 2nd at the London Marathon. This can mean that she is probably in a better form this year. The question is: Will she move up one position to win the London race this year?
After winning the London Marathon in 2013, Priscah Jeptoo has been having some injury problems last year, but she is finally back and ready to compete again. She definitely will be seeking a win to compensate the time she lost being out of competition for a while.
I take this opportunity to wish all the athletes running on Sunday good health, best conditions to run and good luck. May the best athlete win.
