This year’s First Lady’s Half Marathon winner Wilfred Kimitei from western clocked 29:26.2 to win the men’s 10,000m race final as the Kenya Prisons athletics Championships got underway yesterday at Nyayo Stadium.
Kimitei who commanded the pace for the better part of the race beat Rift Valley’s Peter Emase in sprint finish to relegate him to second place.
Emase clocked 29:29.8 ahead of third placed Fredrick Moranga (Nyanza), who was timed at 29:32.2.
Nairobi’s Geoffrey Korir (29:37.1) and Coast’s Timothy Kimeli (30:06.4) finished fourth and fifth respectively. Abraham Kiplangat of Prisons Headquarters (30:06.09) and Rift Valley’s Dominic Mibei (30:08.2) completed the top seven places.
Elsewhere, Pascalia Kipkoech hopes to once again lead a repeat all-Kenyan podium sweep at the fourth edition of Okpekpe International 10km road race today in Edo State, Nigeria.
Kipkoech will face primary competition in the IAAF Bronze Label Road Race from compatriots Esther Ndiema and Pauline Njeru. Kipkoech has a personal best 30:57 posted in 2014 and is among the all-time top 20 in 10km road race. She recently displayed great form when she won the 10km race in Casablanca, Morocco in March (31:14) and finished seventh at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in the same month.
Njeru has impressed in her recent races, with two good quality half marathon wins to her name in Spain this year, including in Madrid last month. The three are all IAAF ranked gold level runners and are well positioned to beat Anjela Tanui’s 2015 winning time of 33:34.
But for Kenya to record a clean sweep in the women’s race, the trio has to ward off the Ethiopian factor which is led by Buzunesh Gudeta who posted 31:21 behind Kikoech in Casablanca.
With defending champion Alex Oloitiptip not returning to Nigeria, Morris Gachaga poses as the best bet to win the race. With a personal best of 27:27, Oloitiptip is set to battle for top honors with Edwin Kiptoo and Simon Cheprot, while the Ethiopian challenge is led by Mesfin Hunegnaw
More than 3000 runners will lace the Okpekpe race route that meanders over hills and sandy paths, including athletes from Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa, Morocco, Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Timothy Toroitich is daring to break the Kenyan and Ethiopian’s jinx and become the first Ugandan to win the title at the Okpekpe 10km road race. Kenyans have won two of the last three titles courtesy of Moses Masai 29:39 in 2013, and Olotptip last year, while Teshome Mekonnen, of Ethiopia won in 2015 in 28:35.
