Edward Cheserek is expected to draw attention when he makes his first appearance in the New York Marathon on Sunday, November 5, 2023.

Cheserek and Albert Korir will carry Kenyan hope in the race after the withdrawal of Geoffrey Kamworor due to an injury and Evans Chebet.

Cheserek will be making his full marathon debut at 29, and he is hopeful given that he has been training for this kind of race before.

Cheserek records

He enjoys a record 17-time NCCA championship titles, three podium finishes, runner-up spots at the 2021 Great North Run and New York Half Marathon, and a win at the Copenhagen Half Marathon last September, and all these give him hope ahead of his full marathon debut.

“I have been training mostly with the marathoners, and we compete against each other all the time, mostly in the workouts and running. And I feel like I want to be with these guys, and I do feel like I can hang with them for a long time.

“I keep telling myself I better do a couple of marathons before I retire,” Cheserek is quoted by Olympics.com as saying.

Although he has no prior experience in marathons, he is viewed as one of the favourites among the athletes that will line up at the Big Apple on Sunday.

His fiancé, Sharon Lokedi, will also be participating in the race, hoping to defend her title. Lokedi won the New York Marathon race when she made her debut, and eyes will be keen to see whether Cheserek can enjoy a similar achievement.

Cheserek, while a child, dreamt of being a footballer, but since he changed his mind and became an athlete, he has posted several positive results as he grew from strength to strength in his respective discipline.

He moved to the United States in 2010 as a student-athlete and immediately found his spot on the track team. At the University of Oregon, he has been running and has won 17 NCCA titles, the most by a male college athlete.