Rosemary Wanjiru and Alexander Mutiso will lead Kenya’s contingent in the Bangsen21 Marathon set to be held in Thailand on Sunday, December 15, 2024.

Kenya’s hope of victory lies in Munyao, as the London Marathon champion will start as the fastest in the men’s race thanks to the personal best of 57:59 he set in Valencia in 2020. He ran his marathon best of 2:03:11 in the same city in December last year and more recently won in London in April, running 2:04:01.

Geoffrey Toroitich, plus Ethiopia’s Nibret Melak, Leul Gebresilase, and Bazezew Asmare, are his rivals in Chon Buri.

Toroitich ran his half marathon best of 59:13 in Malaga last year and won a 10km race in Chon Buri in 29:41 in May. Gebresilase is the world marathon bronze medallist who finished second in the London Marathon in 2022 and ran his half marathon personal best of 59:18 back in 2017, while African 10,000m champion Melak, who finished seventh in the half marathon at the World Road Running Championships last year, has a best of 59:06 as per World Athletics.

Women’s race

Wanjiru will be returning to the competition for the first time since her runner-up finish at the Tokyo Marathon in March. She won in Tokyo in 2023 and also finished second in 2022, running her marathon PB of 2:16:14 this year, while her half marathon best of 1:05:34 was achieved in Ras Al Khaimah in 2020.

In her team she has Gladys Chepkurui, who finished third in Barcelona in 1:06:34 in February and was runner-up in the New York City Half in March. Her most recent performance is a second place in the 10-mile Dam tot Damloop in Amsterdam in September in 51:36, while she set her half marathon best of 1:05:46 in Barcelona last year.

Winfridah Moseti achieved her half marathon best of 1:05:59 in Malaga in March and went on to finish second in the Hamburg Marathon, setting a PB of 2:18:25. She was also third in the Amsterdam Marathon in October.

The Kenyan team will face top rivalry from Ethiopia with Tigist Asefa leading.

This will be Assefa’s race; it will be her first as an Olympic silver medallist. The former world marathon record-holder, who clocked 2:11:53 in Berlin last year, was a narrow second to Sifan Hassan in the Olympic marathon in Paris in August, and prior to that she finished second in the London Marathon in April in 2:16:23. She last raced a half marathon in 2022, and her personal best of 1:07:28 dates back to April of that year.