News20 Aug 2012


Kirui targeting fast time in Amsterdam

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Peter Kirui winning the New York City Half Marathon (© Courtesy of NYRR)

Peter Kirui will be at the start of the TCS Amsterdam Marathon on Sunday, 21 October, but it won't be as a pace setter.

Kirui, the sixth place finisher over 10,000m at last year's World Championships, has made ??a name for himself as a pacer. He helped Patrick Makau break the World record (2:03:38) in Berlin last year. His personal record in the Marathon is 2:06:31, when he acted as pacer for Wilson Kipsang last fall in Frankfurt where he finished sixth. The promising 24-year-old Kenyan is now focusing on his own fast time in Amsterdam, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race.

Kirui has an impressive track record. He not only helped Makau achieve a world record in Berlin, he also ran the best time that has ever been run at 30 km (1:27:38) in this race. A month later in Frankfurt, winner Kipsang was assisted by Kirui, where the latter achieved the fastest time at the 35km point and went on to finish in 2:06:31. In 2010 he paced Makau in Rotterdam to 2:04:48 and Samuel Wanjiru, the now deceased Olympic champion, in Chicago to 2:06:24. This year, the Marathon runner won the New York Half Marathon in a new personal best of 59:39.

Tiki Gelana, who in 2011 ran a new course record (2:22:08) in Amsterdam, became the Olympic champion in London. Will Kirui be the Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro in 2016? The Kenyan is absolutely a runner with good prospects for the future. In Amsterdam he is sure to make an attack on the current course record of 2:05:44 set by Getu Feleke in 2010.

The enthusiasm for the race is once again on a high this year with remarkable growth expected in the event. Organiser Le Champion expects 37,000 runners at the start of the various distances on 21 October. The expectation is that 12,000 participants will take part in the Marathon, an increase on previous years.

Organisers for the IAAF
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