Tum, Chelangat target Rabat Marathon title

Athletes during past Marrakech Marathon

Kenya’s Stephen Tum, a two-time winner of the Marrakech Marathon, will be the athlete to beat in the inaugural Rabat International Marathon tomorrow.

With over 3,000 athletes expected to compete in the first edition of the race, organisers anticipate faster times, owing to the largely flat course in the Moroccan commercial capital.

Tum holds a personal best time of 2:06.35. He won Marrakech Marathon in 2012 and in 2013 and said he looks forward to be third time lucky in Morocco.

“Winning is important and I want to do it on my third visit. I have done enough training and my body is in great shape,” wrote Tum in an e-mail message to FeverPitch.

The women’s race will be led by former Rome and Nairobi Marathon champion Alice Chelangat (2:26.36) and Ethiopia’s Merima Mohammed (2:23.06), who is a former winner of the Ottawa, Dusseldorf and Houston Marathons. Chelangat will be eyeing her sixth marathon title when she lines up in Morocco.

The Kericho-based runner, has won marathons in Milan, San Diego, Florence and Nairobi.

She has also finished second in Prague and Hamburg.

“We expect the participation of 3,000 runners,” Ahmed Ettannani, the national technical director of the Moroccan Federation, in an email.

To ensure the success of this event, some experienced runners from Kenya and Ethiopia are invited.

Prize money will range from $11,000 (Sh990,000) for the winners in both cadres with the 10th finisher taking home $1,000 (Sh91,000).

Meanwhile, they may have a population of 1.4 billion, but China has never managed to get a sprinter into a 100m, 200m or 400m final across the past 14 editions of the IAAF World Championships.

But with the 15th edition of the championships due to be held for the first time in China in August this year, the host nation’s sprinters are hoping to cause a few surprises at the Birds’ Nest Stadium this summer.