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Night marathon awaits Chebet on Doha streets
Switching roles. Chebet in a mock run at the National Council of Sports (NCS) headquarters at Lugogo before the team left for Doha this week. PHOTO BY ISMAIL KEZAALA
What you need to know:
- Bahraini Rose Chelimo is back to defend her title she won in London two years ago.
- Kenya’s quest is led by Ruth Chepngetich, Ethiopians Ruti Aga and Roza Dereje as well as Israeli Lonah Salpeter and Namibian Helalia Johannes are faces to watch.
Linet Chebet chose to concentrate on marathon after she realised she could not take on the competition on track.
Tonight, she will be the last of five Ugandan participants who will compete on Day 1 as the IAAF World Athletics Championships get underway in Qatari capital, Doha.
Chebet earned her Worlds’ debut after posting a national record (NR) time of two hours, 32 minutes and 52 seconds at the Hamburg Marathon on April 28 in Germany.
“I switched to marathon in April to qualify for these World Championships,” Chebet told Daily Monitor in an interview. The NR was previously held by Adero Nyakisi at 2:34:54 set during the 2015 Amsterdam Marathon.
Fourth at the Commonwealth Half-Marathon in Cardiff, Wales last October, Chebet is the only second female Ugandan in history to feature in the 42km race at the Worlds, after Jane Suuto who finished 57th out 59 at Berlin 2009.
Chebet will be among the 70 runners who are set to start the race at midnight, a night marathon happening for the first time in the championship history.
It has been done this way for participants to have bearable conditions as temperatures will have dropped to about 35 degrees Celcius or a little more. An African or Asian is tipped to thrive in the race which will end in the early hours of tomorrow.
“I know about the conditions and I have been training in the weather like that usually at 11am in Iten (Kenya) when it is very hot,” said the 26-year-old who has backed up Hamburg with third and ninth place half-marathon finishes at the Zwolle, Netherlands and African Games in Morocco.
Under the lights, they will run on a looped course by the waterfront of Doha’s famous Corniche, connecting to Doha Bay and Doha City Centre.
Chebet believes the conditions give her a chance.
“A top 10 finish, it will depend on the speed,” said the runner who was training with co-marathoners Adero Nyakisi, Immaculate Chemutai, Stephen Kiprotich in Kapchorwa and with Solomon Mutai for longer spells in Iten.
“Championship races are usually slow as people target medals so I also think I have a chance,” she added.
The recent fastest time in which the women’s marathon has been won at the Worlds is 2:25:15 by Chinese Bai Xue a decade ago.
Bahraini Rose Chelimo is back to defend her title she won in London two years ago.
Kenya’s quest is led by Ruth Chepngetich, Ethiopians Ruti Aga and Roza Dereje as well as Israeli Lonah Salpeter and Namibian Helalia Johannes are faces to watch.
