Margaret Chelimo and Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma headline the 63rd edition of the Campaccio in San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy today.
Chelimo won world silver medal in the 5,000m in October, clocking a 14:27.49 personal best.
The Kenyan will take on compatriot Eva Cherono, who finished eighth at the World Cross Country Championships. She clocked a 14:40.25 5,000m lifetime best in London last July.
The line-up also features Kenya’s Gloria Kite, who finished third at the Boclassic in Bolzano and clocked 8:29.91 for 3,000m last year, and Ethiopians Alemitu Tariku, the World cross country U20 silver medallist and Foyten Tesfay, who finished 11th at World Cross Country Championships.
The men’s line-up will live up to the tradition of the northern Italian event. Girma, who was born in 2000, clocked an Ethiopian record 8:01.36 in the 3000m steeplechase at the World Championships last year, finishing just 0.01 behind winner Conseslus Kipruto.
Another Ethiopian teenager in the field is 17-year-old Tadese Worku, who took silver in the U20 race at the World Cross Country Championships last year and won the Giro di Castelbuono road race in July.
The top Kenyan runner in the field is Robert Keter, who set the 5km world record in Lille in November clocking 13:22.
The race will also reunite the podium finishers from December’s European Cross Country Championships with champion Robel Fsiha from Sweden taking on Turkey’s Aras Kaya and Italy’s Yeman Crippa.
