Cherono quietly gears up for Valencia Marathon

Lawrence Cherono will lead a strong team from Kenya in Sunday’s Valencia Marathon.

Cherono, the Boston and Chicago Marathon champion, will have World marathon champion Amos Kipruto, Evans Chebet, former two-time world marathon champion Abel Kirui for company as they battle for supremacy on the streets of the Spanish city.

Other elite athletes in the mix are Reuben Kiprop, Philemon Rono, Daniel Kemboi, Lani Ruto and Abel Kipchumba.

Cherono has been quietly training in Iten for the last three months.

Preparation

"I had prepared well for the Boston Marathon race but it was cancelled and that also happened to the Olympics Games with Chicago Marathon following suit.

“In August I decided to secure a place in Iten where I started my build up slowly because I knew there could be light at the end of the tunnel and I’m happy with all the challenges we went through I will be able to compete again,” said Cherono.

Kipruto, who has been training in Kapsabet, Nandi County, on his part said that he will be looking forward to a fast race and he is targeting on improving on his  personal best time.

“I have done good training and I’m now focused, though the field is competitive it will help me achieve my personal best because the race will be fast,” said Kipruto.

Kipruto participated in the Tokyo Marathon where he finished a disappointing 18th in a time of 2:08:00 due to a muscle problem in his leg.

“It has been quite a challenging year but I was lucky to have participated in the Tokyo Marathon race though I didn’t perform well. I’m in the right direction as one way of build up to the Olympics Games next year,” said Kipruto.

It won’t be a walk in the park for Kenyan athletes given that they will be competing against Ethiopians who have better times notably Birhanu Legese (2:02:48).

Also in the mix are Kinde Atanaw who has personal best time of 2:03:51, and Leul Gebreselasie with career best of 2:04:02. Cherono’s time of 2:04:06 makes him the best-placed Kenyan in the line-up.

“We have fast athletes who have good times in line-up but that does not bother me because they trained just like me. I will be running my race on Sunday and we shall fight to the tape,” said Cherono who is known for his kick having won the Boston and Chicago Marathon races last year in the latter stages.