Kiprotich faces Kipsang in New York Marathon

By Norman Katende

WORLD and Olympic Champion Stephen Kiprotich will be out to challenge a list of top runners, after being invited for the New York Marathon for the second year running.

Kiprotich, who finished third in his last Bupa Greatest Race outing in Newcastle last month is among the Elite runners, and he will again face off with defending champion Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai and world marathon record holder Wilson Kiprotich Kipsang, who will be making his debut in the New York marathon.

The two Kenyans are the only athletes to have run below 2 hours four minutes in the 42.198km elite entry list for the November race in New York City.  The men’s international field has athletes representing 17 different countries.

Kiprotich’s target is to set a new national record, and running against the World record holder Kipsang will be motivation enough as he fights to break his 2 hours 7 minutes and 20 seconds national best, which is also the national record.

The 25 year old Ugandan, who finished 12th in last year’s event, and is the second man in the world to win both the Olympic and World championships marathon titles, will this time be looking for a noble finish in one of the world’s top marathons, having failed to make an impact in last year’s event and also at this year’s London Marathon in April.

“My problem was speed and I have been working on it. I believe that it is great enough for me to put up some good challenge against that high field of elite runners,” said Kiprotich last week.

The organising committee released a list of top runners for the event that an extraordinary contingent of decorated marathoners from around the world.

It was the third time Kiprotich will be coming up against Kipsang, who won a bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games where Kiprotich bagged gold.

Among others that Kiprotich will be coming against is 2014 London Marathon runner-up Stanley Biwott and former 10K world record-holder and Olympic bronze medallist Micah Kogo, both from Kenya and Tokyo Marathon champion Michael Kipyeko.

The NYC marathon men Profession list

Geoffrey Mutai, KEN

Wilson Kipsang, KEN

Gebre Gebremariam, ETH

Stanley Biwott, KEN

Peter Cheruiyot Kirui, KEN

Michael Kipyego, KEN

Micah Kogo, KEN

Stephen Kiprotich, UGA

Abderrahime Bouramdane, MAR

Yuki Kawauchi, JPN

Luspaho April, RSA

Urige Buta, NOR

Masato Imai, JPN

Alistair Cragg, IRL