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Runners will face the heat of Singapore in the second leg of The Greatest Race on Earth, the world’s only marathon team relay race
24 November 2006, London – Another strong men’s and women’s line-up has been announced for the second leg of The Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth (GROE) 2006/07, the Singapore Marathon, which will take place on 3 December. With teams separated by the tightest of margins after the first leg of the series in Nairobi last month, the marathon will be crucial in determining how the largest prize pool in world athletics, US$1.5 million, is ultimately shared.
GROE is a relay of four marathons in the cities of Nairobi, Singapore, Mumbai and Hong Kong, and sees athletes take on some of the world's most difficult running conditions - including altitude, heat, humidity and punishing inclines. Athletes compete in teams of four, running in one marathon each, working together to strive for the fastest cumulative time needed to win. The series sees over 30 countries compete in what is becoming the ‘World Cup of Marathons’.
There will be six athletes in the GROE line-up in Singapore who have clocked under 2 hours 10 minutes in their careers. With a personal best of 2:07:55, Kenyan Simon Bor is the fastest amongst them, and he will be hoping to elevate his team Kericho from their current third place in the race for the US$400,000 top prize. He has fond memories of GROE, having won the Hong Kong Marathon earlier this year to lead the Kenya national team to second place overall and first place in the Nations Challenge.
Bor said: “I have run some of the biggest marathons in the world but new experiences like GROE are what keeps me interested and motivated as an athlete. When you run alone you are using your ego. Here there is no ego, only the team counts.”
Bor will face stiff competition though from some of his fellow countrymen. Joseph Ngolepus, 28, set his personal best of 2:07:57 in finishing third in the London Marathon in 2003 and is fresh from winning the Madrid Marathon earlier this year. He will be looking to extend his team Run For Fun’s current lead, established by his illustrious team-mate Christopher Cheboiboch in Nairobi. Matthew Sigei, 23, of the Kaptagat team, with a personal best of 2:09:17; and Stephen Ndungu, 29, of PACE Sports Management and twice winner of the Los Angeles Marathon, will also be pushing hard.
Asked what makes GROE different, Ndungu said: “When the going gets tough, regardless of your position, you know you have to keep pushing to keep your team in contention for the prizes.”
In addition last year’s Singapore Marathon winner, Amos Matui, will be looking to repeat his feat to push his team Marathon Centre Kericho up from 14th place; and the 2005 runner-up, Ethiopian Ashebir Demissu Jote (personal best 2:09:14) will be determined to improve his team Akaki’s present standing of 25th.
The strength of the all-women teams competing in the GROE Women’s Challenge was in evidence in Nairobi, with GROE runners filling the top three places in the overall marathon. Irene Jerotich, running for Cyclone, recorded the fastest time ever on Kenyan soil of 2:32:46. Her team-mate Salina Jebet Kosgei, 29, takes the baton on from her in Singapore. Kosgei is a former winner of the Paris Marathon and finished an outstanding second in this year’s Berlin Marathon in a time of 2:23:22.
Kosgei said: “I think it is fascinating to take part in a series of marathons held in such unique places. It is a relay where your team-mate picks up where you left off, but in a completely different part of the world. I will judge my result only at the end of series, based on how my team does.
Second in the standings are China Team, who will be represented in Singapore by 30 year-old Dai Yanyan (PB 2:24:41), who was the winner of the 2005 Hong Kong Marathon and is competing in her third series of GROE. Yanyan will be looking to impress and push for a place in the China team in the 2008 Olympics, but will also be wary of the threat of Russian Irina Timofeyeva (PB 2:25:29), running for fourth-place Grazy Girls, who has won previously in Tokyo, New Delhi, Singapore and Paris.
A specially-commissioned Gold Baton trophy – a 9 carat, 300 gram, solid gold relay baton – awaits the winners of the Nations Challenge, which has become a breeding ground for young marathon talent around the world. Currently in the lead by four minutes are Uganda, who will be represented in Singapore for the second successive year by 26 year-old army soldier Joseph Nsubuga.
Nsubuga said: “The Greatest Race is a huge challenge but teamwork helps you overcome this. Indeed the trophy we are aiming for, the Gold Baton, shows the importance of teamwork to winning in GROE. I am honoured to be representing my country again, although the pressure is on to maintain our lead after our team-mate Moses Cherop did so well in Nairobi.”
John Cheruiyot Mutai will be running for Kenya, the winners of the previous two years’ Nations Challenges. He said: “It feels wonderful to be part of a team, training with each other and challenging each other to win. We need discipline and good teamwork to succeed. I have never competed abroad before so this is a big challenge for me, I hope to achieve a good time for my team. I have been training hard during the daytime when it is very hot, so that I will be prepared for the conditions in Singapore.”
Completing an African top three in the Nations Challenge are Zimbabwe. Hot on their tails from South Asia are India and less than a minute behind them Sri Lanka, who both recorded excellent times in Nairobi and currently hold fourth and fifth places.
Ajeet Singh, 22, running for India, said: “Self belief and the ability to rise to the challenge are the qualities that I think are important for GROE. Each marathon has different challenges and requirements, and I am happy to say that so far in my career I have always been successful in adapting.”
Within the Nations Challenge are six regional competitions. The Europe & Oceania group is particularly close, with just under ten minutes covering the top six teams. Great Britain will be looking for an inspirational run from late replacement and Olympian Mark Steinle, whose personal best time of 2:09:17 in the 2002 London Marathon makes him the eighth fastest British marathon runner of all time and the fourth fastest of the GROE field in Singapore.
Defending their leads in the regional competitions will be: Indonesia in South East Asia; Taiwan in North East Asia; Argentina in the Americas; Ireland in Europe & Oceania; and Uganda and India in Africa and South Asia respectively.
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