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A number of Kenyan athletes are set to contest for top honours at this year’s the Boston Half Marathon, in the United States of America on November 13.

The Kenyan who have already confirmed participation in the race comprise Josphat Tanui, Shadrack Kimining, 2022 Cardiff half marathon winner Geoffrey Koech, Houston half marathon winner Vicoty Chepngeno, Margaret Wangari, Cynthia Limo among others.

Tanui (59:22) and Kimining (59:27) have the two fastest personal bests in the field, which includes five men who have run under one hour for the half marathon.

“I have prepared well in the last few months and I believe I have done enough to perform well on that day and I will use the race as launching pad for the next season,” Tanui said. Koech, who is also the 2019 Birell Prague 10km winner, edged out Ethiopian duo of Gizealaw Ayana and Chimdessa Gudeta who placed second and third respectively during the Cardiff half marathon held early this month.

Koech timed 1:00:01 as Ayana and Gudeta finished in respective times of 1:00:17 and 01:00:18.The trio will come up against Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa, the winner of the Boston Marathon in 2013 and 2015, who owns a pair of B.A.A. Half Marathon titles from 2013 and 2014, as well as the event record (1:00:34). The Ethiopian fan favorite is also the event record holder (1:00:34), and considers Boston his second home.

“Boston holds a special place in my heart and I’m excited to return again to race in the B.A.A. Half Marathon, where I have had great success before,” said Desisa. “I hope to run very well again!” he added.Other contenders are Ethiopian Tsegay Kidanu, 11th at the Copenhagen Half Marathon, as well as Morocco’s Zouhair Talbi, the third-place finisher at the 2022 B.A.A. 5K. The top American entrant is Teshome Mekonen, who formerly represented Ethiopia internationally, has run 1:00:02, and won this year’s Brooklyn Half.

Chepngeno owns the fastest lifetime best (1:05:03), which she won in Houston in January this year.She set a North American all-comers’ half marathon record to move to 11th on the world all-time list.