Chebet, Cherono lead Kenya’s quest for Boston marathon title

In the absence of favourites, Kenenisa Bekele and Titus Ekiru who have since withdrawn from the Boston Marathon set for Monday 18 April, the campaign for the title is led by Kenya’s Evans Chebet and Ethiopian Birhanu Legese. 

The London marathon 2021 fourth-place finisher heads to the race as the fastest Kenyan in the star-studded race, holding a 2:03:00 personal best (PB) set in 2020 as he raced to victory at the Valencia marathon. 

Chebet, however, is playing second fiddle to Ethiopian Legese. The two-time Tokyo champ is the only sub 2:03 athlete on the field with a 2:02:48 PB. He has been added to the field after scratching from last month’s Tokyo Marathon. 

Olympian and Valencia marathon champion Lawrence Cherono is the third fastest on the field with his 2:03:04 PB set in 2020 as he finished second to Chebet in Valencia. Having conquered the Boston course in 2019, Cherono will be looking to repeat the feat against a stellar field. 

Bekele, the second-fastest marathon runner ever withdrew from what would have been his Boston Marathon debut. Bekele had gone two years without racing a marathon after running his personal best of 2:01:41 in Berlin in September 2019 but then raced two marathons in six weeks last year, running 2:06:47 to finish third in Berlin and 2:12:52 to finish sixth in New York. 

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Africa Games champion and the 2021 world leader, Ekiru, thanks to his 2:02:57 win in Milan, also withdrew from the men’s race. Earlier in the year, the Abu Dhabi Marathon winner picked an injury in training that has forced him to skip Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) half marathon that was set for 19 February. 

Other Kenyans in contention include defending champion Benson Kipruto who clocked 2:09.51 in 2021 to win the title ahead of the Ethiopian duo of Lemi Berhanu (2:10.37) and Jemal Mekonnen (2:10.38). Kipruto holds a 2:05:13 PB set in 2019 at the Toronto Marathon. 

Three-time World Half marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor, Eric Kiptanu (2:05:47) Bethwell Yegon (2:06:14) and Geoffrey Kirui (   2:06:27) are some of the other elite Kenyan runners in the race. 

Reigning London Marathon champ Sisay Lemma (2:03:36) and 2019 Valencia champ Kinde Atanaw (2:03:51) are also new additions to the Boston field.

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