News26 Mar 2014


Priscah Jeptoo to race at the Great Manchester Run

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Priscah Jeptoo wins the 2013 Bupa Great North Run (© Mark Shearman)

Priscah Jeptoo is to make her debut at the Bupa Great Manchester Run on 18 May, organisers for the IAAF Gold Label Road Race announced on Wednesday (26).

The 29-year-old Kenyan enjoyed a trailblazing campaign on the roads in 2013, winning the London and New York City marathons as well as defeating two freshly crowned world champions to emerge victorious from a stellar elite women’s field at the Bupa Great North Run last September.

Jeptoo also won the London 2012 Olympic Games marathon silver medal.

With Kenenisa Bekele, holder of the 5000m and 10,000m world records, and Wilson Kipsang, the fastest marathon man in history, going head-to-head for the first time in the elite men’s field at the 2014 Bupa Great Manchester Run, which is over 10km, it represents another coup for the race organisers.

“We’re delighted that Priscah is coming,” said Peter Riley, elite athlete manager for the Bupa Great Manchester Run.

“It’s fair to say that she was queen of the roads in 2013. You don’t win the London Marathon, the New York Marathon and the Bupa Great North Run without being something special.

“She was brilliant in the Great North Run. It’ll be interesting to see how she runs over 10km in Manchester. It should be an excellent race.”

Jeptoo was in stunning form the last time she raced in Great Britain, in the 2013 Bupa Great North Run, when the focus in the elite women’s race was on the clash between Ethiopian rivals Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba. But Jeptoo broke them both with her merciless mid-race pace in the Tyneside half marathon.

She almost broke Paula Radcliffe’s course record too, finishing just five seconds shy of it with a winning time of 1:05:45.

“It was a surprising day for me,” reflected Jeptoo, who has been undefeated for more than a year. “I did not expect a result like that. It was also a great day for Kenya.”

Jeptoo will be defending her London Marathon crown on 13 April before dropping down in distance for the Bupa Great Manchester Run.

She rarely runs 10km road races but has twice won the famous Corrida de Sao Silvestre New Year’s Eve race event in Luanda, the capital of Angola, and has a lifetime best of 32:10.

Organisers for the IAAF

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