The Former New York City Marathon champion, Stanley Kipleting Biwott will make his return to running at the 50th edition of the Honolulu Marathon that will be held on Sunday (4) in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
The 36 year-old who has not completed a marathon since 2018 when he was fourth at the Abu Dhabi Marathon, made a return to racing after a long layoff earlier this year, when he won the Pandova Half Marathon with a time 1:01.57.
Biwott will not have an easy ride as he will face-off with the reigning Daegu Marathon champion, Shifera Tamru from Ethiopia who comes to this race with the fastest time on paper of 2:05.18 that he got at the 2019 Dubai Marathon, where he finished in fifth place. The 24 year-old who will be making his debut here, has three marathon wins and five podium finishes in eight starts and was most recently fifth at the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:07.53.
Biwott and Tamru will have to get past two fastest athletes, Ethiopia’s Asefa Mengstu, who comes with the fastest time on paper of 2:04.06 that he got at the 2018 Dubai Marathon and Branabas Kiptum from Kenya who holds a lifetime best of 2:04.17 that he got last year at the Milano Marathon. The Ethiopian has completed 13 career marathons with four wins and seven podium finishes whileKiptum has completed eighteen marathons in twenty starts with three wins and thirteen podium finishes. Both athletes will also be making their debut in Honolulu.
The race organisers have put together this deep elite field to try and chase the race course record of 2:07.59 that was set in 2019 by Titus Ekiru from Kenya.
“We are excited to welcome top professional athletes to attack our incredible course records for the 50th anniversary race,” said Honolulu Marathon Association President Dr. Jim Barahal. “At its core the Honolulu Marathon is an athletic competition, whether against others or against oneself, and we are excited to see what transpires on December 11.
The winner will pocket a cool $25,000.
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