Dubai: Just eight months after destroying a talented field in Prague, precocious Kenyan athlete Eliud Kiptanui is set to continue his meteoric rise with a debut appearance at the 2011 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on January 21.
The 21 year-old's European marathon debut in the Czech Republic saw him finish in a time of 2h:05:39, which not only beat his nearest challenger by two minutes, it also saw the young Kenyan smash into the all time record books with the 17th fastest marathon run in history and the sixth best of 2010.
It was a stunning performance by Kiptanui especially as the Prague racecourse features several kilometres of cobbled streets and is far from conducive to a fast pace.
With the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon route considered one of the flattest in the world, the Kenyan will be one of the favourites to improve his personal best and make even greater strides in the sport.
Better time
"I was expecting a better time than 2:12, which was my previous best" said Kiptanui. "I thought I could do 2:08, 2:09, but 2:05 is incredible, I'm very happy. If the field is good, I can go faster." And Kiptanui, who pledged his ¤75,000 (Dh367,500) Prague prize money to help his two brothers and three sisters through school, will be out to land the $250,000 first prize in Dubai — the biggest cheque in marathon running — when he lines up in the emirate next month.
"The future of marathon running is very exciting with talented athletes like Eliud coming through the ranks at such a young age," said event director Peter Connerton. "His winning time in Prague was amazing for a young man whose only previous marathon had been in Kenya just a few months earlier."
When Kiptanui won the Safaricom Marathon in Kisumu, Kenya in December 2009, it was in humid conditions with the temperature well over 30 degrees Celcius yet he still won by over seven minutes.
Title credentials
In Prague, his relative anonymity coupled with his aggressive front-running gave the impression that Kiptanui was a pace maker but by taking the initiative at the 35 kilometres point of the 42.2 kilometre race, the Kenyan left no-one in any doubt as to his title credentials.
Once again, we could not be able to put on a race of this magnitude without the support of the Dubai Government who allow us the freedom of the streets of the emirate for the biggest running event of the year," event general co-ordinator Ahmad Al Kamali, said.
