Previews01 Apr 2017


Veteran Mungara takes on newcomer Ekiru in Milan

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Kenneth Mungara winning at the 2015 Milano Marathon (© Giancarlo Colombo / organisers)

The 17th EA7 Emporio Armani Milano Marathon will see a clash of youth and experience as organisers hope that the course record of 2:07:53, set by Duncan Kibet in 2008, will be broken at the IAAF Bronze Label Race on Sunday (2).

Veteran runner Kenneth Mungara will return to Milan, where he won in 2015 with a world M40 best of 2:08:44. The 43-year-old went on to improve that record by two seconds when he clocked 2:08:42 in Gold Coast in July 2015 and again at last year’s Milan Marathon when he finished third in 2:08:38.

His personal best of 2:07:36 was set at the 2011 Prague Marathon, but he has maintained his consistency since then, producing some of the fastest times of his career in the past two years. The four-time Toronto Marathon winner only started running seriously in his early 30s when he was inspired by local runners who were clients at his barber’s shop.

Although nowhere near as experienced as Mungara, Titus Ekiru is the fastest runner in the men’s field. The Kenyan broke the course record at the Seville Marathon in February with a lifetime best of 2:07:43 in what was his second race at the distance. Provided he has fully recovered from his efforts of six weeks ago, Ekiru could be set for another improvement.

Three other Kenyan runners could be in contention for a podium finish. Reuben Kiprop Kerio set a personal best of 2:09:05 last year in Brescia and clocked 1:01:21 at the Verbania Half Marathon. Edwin Kipngetich Koech ran his marathon PB of 2:10:52 in Verona and won the Verona Giulietta and Romeo Half Marathon with 1:00:24 last February, while Henry Chirchir has a 2:09:24 PB from 2012 and came close to it last year with a 2:10:40 clocking in Kosice.

Brazil will be represented by Giovani Dos Santos, who set his personal best in Milan last year with 2:14:41.

Italy’s European under-23 10,000m bronze medallist Yassine Rachik will make his marathon debut after a good career on the track. Compatriot Stefano La Rosa, the 2011 World University Games 5000m bronze medallist, will act as pacemaker for the first half of the race and will aim to reach the half-way mark in 1:03:30.

“Sub-2:10 times have been run in almost every edition of the Milano Marathon,” said race director Federico Rosa. “We are very proud as few Italian races can boast this record. We want to continue this tradition this year.”

Anna Incerti will carry Italian hopes in the women’s race. The 2010 European marathon champion achieved her first win in a top international race in Milan in 2008, setting a personal best of 2:27:42 a few months after finishing 14th at the Olympic Games in Beijing. She went on to reduce her PB to 2:25:32 when finishing fifth at the 2011 Berlin Marathon.

Incerti failed to finish at the 2016 Olympics; the last marathon she completed was in New York in 2015 when she finished ninth in 2:33:13.

“After the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, I was disappointed,” said Incerti, who has recorded times of 1:12:12 and 1:12:35 in two half-marathon races this year. “I wanted to stop running marathons but my husband Stefano Scaini convinced me to train for this distance. In preparation for the Milan Marathon, I have been training in Tuscany with some Ugandan runners of the Tuscany Training Camp run by Giuseppe Giambrone, who trains world junior cross-country champion Jacob Kiplimo.”

Italy will be also represented by Giovanna Epis, who clocked her personal best of 2:35:37 last October in Frankfurt. Epis finished fifth at the Stramilano Half Marathon in 1:14:22 in March in her final race before the Milano Marathon.

Incerti will face Kenya’s Vivian Jerono Kiplagat, who finished third at the 2016 Madrid Marathon in 2:42:22, a time which does not fully reflect her real potential, as she recently finished second at the Verbania Half Marathon in 1:09:05.

The other leading names are Kenya’s Rose Jepchumba, third at the 2016 Enschede Marathon in 2:29:09, and Ethiopia’s Waka Chaltu, who finished third in Warsaw in 2:29:30, and Halima Beriso Hassen, who ran her personal best of 2:30:07 in Chongqing in 2015.

The Milano Marathon will be held on the same course as last year with the start and the finish in the same point, in Corso Venezia in the centre of Milan. The course was completely rebuilt some years ago following the advice of Ethiopian running legend Haile Gebrselassie.

This year the Milano Marathon has broken the record of entrants with a total of 20,000 people participating in all three events, including 6309 marathon runners.

“The course has undergone some small changes compared to the past edition,” said race director Andrea Trabuio. “It will reach all symbols of Milan like the Duomo Cathedral, the Scala Theatre, Sforzesco’s Castle and the new Milan City Life, the modern district of Milan with its skyscrapers and all the sports symbols dear to all Milan sports fans like the San Siro Giuseppe Meazza Football Stadium, the Monte Stella and the Trenno Park.”

Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

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