by Justin Lagat
Geoffery Kamworor, Copenhagan Half Marathon, photo courtesy of Copenhagen Half Marathon
Justin Lagat wrote this piece about cross country legends who are competing in the 126th Boston Marathon, that is happening on April 18, 2022.
The 126th Boston Marathon, to be run on April 18, 2022, promises to be a race to remember. The men’s elite field that was just announced will be the fastest field ever assembled in the history of the Boston Marathon.
Leading the incredibly fast field is Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele who is the second fastest runner in history with a personal best time of 2:01:41, a time he ran at the Berlin Marathon in 2019.
Titus Ekiru who was the fastest in the world last year having run 2:02:57 in Milan; Evans Chebet, the world leader in 2020 with 2:03:00; Lawrence Cherono with a personal best time of 2:03:04; Albert Korir, the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon champion; and Geoffrey Kamworor, the two-time New York City Marathon and three-time World Athletics Half Marathon Champion, are just but part of the deep field announced on 13th January by the organizers.
There are eight runners with their personal best times under 2:05:00 and a total of 25 runners with times under 2:10:00.
Given such a deep start list, it will be hard to predict the probable winner, but given their experience and honors from their past victories, all eyes will definitely be on Bekele and Kamworor.
While Bekele has a personal best time that is 5 minutes faster than Kamworor’s, the Boston Marathon is not a flat course and both of them will be running here for their first time. The fact that both have had great success in cross country running that often happens on uneven terrains makes them well suited for the Boston course.
Kamworor is already scheduled to run a world cross country tour event in Kenya, the Memorial Agnes Tirop cross country on 12th February and this will help him and fans gauge his readiness for the Boston Marathon race.
