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Over 3000 runners have already registered for the inaugural Uhuru Classic City Marathon that has been earmarked for Sunday in Nairobi where 25 athletes from Ethiopia have been signed-in both men and women’s categories.

Kenya’s new entrants are Emmanuel Mutai, the 2011 London Marathon champion and 2017 Eindhoven Marathon winner, Eunice Jeptoo. They have promised to bring their best game during the inaugural meet.

“I will not be racing in Nairobi just to make numbers. I will be starting the race to finish and fight for prize money,” added the 37-year-old Mutai, who settled for a silver medal in the marathon at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin.

Jeptoo competed during the third Athletics Kenya Track and Field Meeting in March, finishing 10th in 10,000m. She will take on, among others, Brigid Cherono and Emily Cheruiyot in the women’s race.

Local athletes

Jeptoo won the 2017 Eindhoven Marathon in personal best 2:26:13 says she expects stiff challenge from local athletes keen to make a name for themselves.

“Many people will be expecting elite athletes to carry the day, but we should expect surprises, Kenya has the best road racers in the world, so I think someone new will go into the history books,” said Jeptoo who in 2017 finished second at the Rabat Marathon.

“Over 200 technical officials and 400 volunteers will participate in the one-day event,” Athletics Kenya (AK) president Jack Tuwei said where he assured that preparations for Uhuru Classic are in top gear with rehearsals set for Friday and Saturday at the Nyayo National Stadium.

It will have the men’s and women’s winner in each pocketing $60,000 (Sh6.9m) in prize money with the second placed athletes in each of the categories going home with $35,000 (Sh4.02m).

Race entry list from organisers indicates that Kenneth Mung’ara, who has personal best of 2:07:36, Moses Mengich (2:13:18), Levi Matebo (2:05:16) and Nicholas Chelimo Kipkorir (2:07:38) have all signed up for the richest marathon in Africa.

Mung’ara, who finished second in the 2011 Prague Marathon in personal best 2:07:36, won the 2013 Standard Chartered Bank Nairobi Marathon.

He represented Kenya in the marathon at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, finishing 10th, has won Gold Coast Marathon four times back-to-back from 2015 to 2018.

Some 33km of the route will be run on the new Nairobi Expressway with the rest on some of the streets in the city.

“I just took it upon myself to go out there and do that for us.

“A team like Golden State, they’re never out of the game. We just have to lock in, keep our foot on the gas and play for the full 48 minutes.”

Stephen Curry led the Warriors scoring with 27 points while Jordan Poole finished with 20.

But the Warriors were left ruing a wayward shooting performance which saw the team make only 40 of 95 attempts from the field.

In Boston, Jaylen Brown finished with 30 points as the Celtics bounced back to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks 109-86 and level their Eastern Conference playoff series.

Brown produced a masterclass of shooting as the Celtics sprinted away from the NBA champions in a rampant first-half display at the TD Garden which saw them surge into a decisive 65-40 lead.

Brown went 9-for-10 from the field in the first two quarters, including five three-pointers, in a devastating points blitz which left the Bucks scrambling to gain a foothold in the contest.

The 25-year-old shooting guard finished with 30 points, five rebounds and six assists while Jayson Tatum had 29 points with eight assists.

Grant Williams added 21 from the bench as Boston completed a wire-to-wire victory just two days after being humbled 101-89 in game one on Sunday.

“It was one game, we weren’t going to let one game define our season,” Brown said of the Celtics’ response to their game-one loss. “We’ve been resilient all year. Playoffs is all about how you respond.

“The first game we got punched in the mouth, but tonight we came back and threw the first punch and we won.”

Despite an improved offensive performance in the third quarter, where Milwaukee outscored the Celtics 26-18, Boston’s high-scoring first-half performance ensured they maintained a comfortable double-digit lead advantage throughout the second half.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks scorers with 28 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while Jrue Holiday contributed 19. 

Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton had 13 points each for the Bucks, who will now return to Milwaukee for game three of the best-of-seven series on Saturday.