Kenya’s Gideon Kipsang will be looking to defend his title at the 5th edition of the River Rock Belfast Half Marathon that will be held on Sunday (23) in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
In last year’s edition the 30-year-old Kenyan battled for honors with Belfast’s Stephen Scullion for the early stages of the race before forging ahead to win by a huge margin of 90 seconds in 1:04.38. Scullion had been lined up to renew his rivalry with Kipsang this weekend but the latter has instead traveled to compete in the US.
This leaves the way clear for a possible hat-trick of victories for Kipsang who has raced in the Province on numerous occasions.
He was runner up in the Belfast Marathon in 2015 and later that year won the Belfast Half in a record 1:04.24.
The African, on record as enjoying coming here, who might also defend his Bangor 10k next week.
While Kipsang is renowned for good solo runs, the anticipated poor weather conditions for Sunday are likely to militate against a fast time. Also, his opposition will not be overly challenging as the race clashes with next weekend’s inaugural Commonwealth Half Marathon in Cardiff where a Northern Ireland team will compete.
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