by Justin Lagat
Tirunesh Dibaba, photo by PhotoRun.net
Justin Lagat wrote this piece on the amazing weekend of races coming up, October 20-21, 2018.
A big weekend of road racing coming up in Amsterdam, Toronto and Delhi
This Sunday, the 21st of October 2018, marathon fans across the world will have their day covered by three great road running events happening on three continents; the Delhi half marathon in Asia, the Amsterdam Marathon in Europe and the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in North America.
TCS Amsterdam marathon:
The biggest star expected to feature is Kenenisa Bekele who has a personal best time of 2:03:03; a time that puts him as the third fastest runner in history behind Eliud Kipchoge and Dennis Kimetto. However, it is hard to predict how he will run here given that his personal best time was set in Berlin more than two years ago.
Lawrence Cherono is the defending champion and holds the course record of 2:05:09 which he set last year. Other top contenders who have run under 2:06 include Laban Korir, Mule Wasihun and Gideon Kipketer.
Exciting to watch in the women’s race will be Meseret Defar, the two times Olympic and world champion over 5000m in her marathon debut. Also debuting will be Kenya’s world and Olympic medalist, Linet Maasai.
ScotiaBank Toronto waterfront marathon:
Stephen Kiprotich, Philemon Ronoh and Jake Robertson are the three top protagonists to watch here. Kiprotich is a world and Olympic champion. Ronoh is the defending champion and holds the Canadian all comers’ record which he set here last year. Robertson is in good form this year having run under 60 minutes for the half marathon at the North Run recently behind Mo Farah.
Felix Kandie with a personal best time of 2:06:03 is the fastest on paper. Reid Coolsaet is the fastest Canadian with a personal best time of 2:10:28
The defending champion in the women’s race, Marta Megra will be back. However, her personal best time of 2:24:32 is almost four minutes slower than that of Amane Beriso who has 2:20:48.
Airtel Delhi half marathon:
Compared to the men’s elite field, the women’s field here looks more impressive. The biggest clash expected will be between Tirunesh Dibaba and the world record holder, Joyciline Jepkosgei. The two will not have it easy with the presence of other top contenders that include the reigning African 10,000m champion, Stacy Ndiwa and Ethiopia’s Sanbere Teferi who will be debuting, among others.
It will be interesting to see how the men’s race turns out, as it has six sub 60 minute runners on the start list.
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