Experienced athletes set to face upcoming stars at Eldoret City Marathon

Women participate in 42 km race during the forth edition of Eldoret City Marathon in Eldoret Uasin County yesterday. Emily Chebet (front) won the race. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

This Sunday, at the 2024 Eldoret City Marathon, experience will meet lofty ambitions of upcoming stars.

Upcoming marathoners will be racing side by side with experienced road running bigwigs, hoping to join the ranks of road runners who have made history in Eldoret and gone ahead to chalk up victories in city races staged in cities across the world.

The start list features top guns who have previously shown their mettle in global races and rising stars, seeking to transit to the marathon in style.

For instance, Asbel Kiprop (not the three-time 1500m champion), who has been making a name in cross country in recent months, will be starting with elites such as Thomas Ekiru, the 2022 Bilbao Bizkaia Marathon runner-up.

When 2018 Nice Half Marathon winner Emmanuel Kipsang will be setting sights on a glorious performance at the City of Champions, budding road racers such as Uasin Gishu's 21-year-old Dominic Kipchirchir will be looking to impress at home.

And so, it will be a matter of who will be blink first as stars will engage the more than 45 turns of Eldoret City Marathon course.

Bernard Kipkemoi of Nakuru takes to the Eldoret City Marathon start line with impressive performances in a number of global road races.

Kipkemoi won the 2015 edition of Torino Half Marathon and will be hoping to shine in Eldoret on Sunday.

Kiambu-based athletes and their Nyahururu counterparts are will also be eyeing a share of the race's Sh18 million prize money at the Eldoret showdown.

Denis Mburu and Jason Kiarie are among athletes who will be competing in the Sunday event.

Ugandan athletes are also not left behind in the race to deliver stunning cruise on the streets of a town that has over the years earned the title - the mecca of global athletics for producing a huge number of medallists at international championships.

Olympian Abraham Kiplimo from Uganda's Kapchorwa District is in the elite list.

Kiplimo competed in 5,000m at the 2012 Olympics. He won a bronze medal for Uganda in the men's marathon at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, finishing behind Michael Shelley of Australia and Kenya's Stephen Kwelio Chemlany in a time of 2:12:23 hours. This was his maiden international medal.

On Sunday, he will be in the company of countryman Paul Simotwo.

Yesterday, Eldoret was getting ready for another top show.

A tree planting exercise that will bring together sponsors will mark the event's Climate Action initiative at the Eldoret Sports Club, today.

Sponsors are running an 'Adopt an Athlete' campaign that looks to sponsor upcoming marathoners who have set their sights on writing history.