Kacheran to tackle Bekele in Berlin Marathon

Sunday 26 September 2021 might be election day for the Germans, but for Kenya’s Philemon Kacheran, it will be one of the most important assignments he has taken up as a marathoner, carrying Kenya’s hopes for a medal at the Berlin Marathon. 

Berlin Marathon is set to be the world's largest marathon since the pandemic began. Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele headlines the elite field as returns two years after coming to within two seconds of Eliud Kipchoge’s world record on the same course. He has his sights on a third victory on the roads of Germany’s capital city. 

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With Bekele on the field, Kacheran, a 2:06:05 runner has his work cut out. He is the third-fastest runner on the field after Bekele and the half-marathon specialist Guye Adola who has a personal best time of 2:03:36 in the marathon. 

In 2017, Kacheran competed overseas for the first time, placing 9th over 15km in the iconic Seven Hills race in Nijmegen to clock 44:27 and the following month ran 10 seconds quicker over the same distance to place seventh in Heisenberg. 

“Competing in both races put me on the right path to achieving my dreams,” he told NN Running Team in a past interview. “But after that race, I called Valentijn (Global Sports Communication manager of Kenyan athletes) to say it would be better for me to train for the marathon because I prefer the longer distances.” 

He opened his 2018 campaign with a 61:22 half marathon for eighth in Venlo, Holland before the following weekend clinching top spot over the 21.1km distance in Paderborn, Germany in 61:54. The performances were solid and further convinced the Kenyan of his marathon future. 

“I still felt I finished both races with some energy,” he explained. “I was anxious to see what would happen in the marathon. My coach Patrick Sang then gave me the green light to step up to the marathon distance.” 

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Kacheran made his eagerly-awaited marathon debut in Cape Town in September 2018. Concerned he may crack around 36-37km because this was the period he often started to struggle during long runs, he nonetheless maintained a nice rhythm in the latter stages to place third in 2:09:13. 

Lifted by his performance in South Africa and running on a faster course he hoped to run a time of around 2:08 for his second marathon in Barcelona in March 2019. However, the long-limbed athlete went on to exceed expectations to record 2:07:12, one place behind training partner Anthony Maritim and ahead of fellow Kaptagat-based team-mates, Laban Mutai and Laban Korir. 

“Following all the hard training sessions, I felt this was the race where I really delivered,” he says. 

After featuring as one of the pacemakers for Kipchoge in the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in October 2019, he ended his 2019 season in style with a 2:06:05 clocking to place fifth in the Valencia Marathon, to maintain his streak of continual improvement over the 42.2km distance. 

“I’m now much better able to handle the long runs in training,” he adds: “I’m now able to stay with Kipchoge without being dropped on the long runs. This is very positive because initially, it was hard to keep up with him.” 

On Sunday, the 29-year old will be joined by fellow Kenyan Festus Talam who boasts a 2:06:13 personal best in the distance achieved when he defended his Eindhoven Marathon in 2017.