Kenyan-born Bahrain athlete Rose Chelimo after a past training session in Kapsabet, Nandi County.
Former world marathon champion Kenyan-born Bahraini Rose Chelimo heads a field of athletes from Middle East and Europe to the fifth Absa Sirikwa Classic Cross Country Tour at Lobo Village, Eldoret, on Saturday.
Chelimo, who won the 2017 London World Athletics Championships women’s marathon gold, will be looking for a much better outing than the 26th placed finish in this World Athletics Cross Country Gold Tour race in 2023.
Chelimo, 36, first represented Bahrain at the 2016 Summer Olympics, placing eighth in the women’s marathon. She won silver at the 2019 Doha World championships.
Chelimo has had a good run at the World Marathon Major (WMM) races, finishing sixth at 2018 London and second at 2017 Boston.
Also entered in the Sirikwa Classic is another Kenya-born Bahrani Roselida Jepketer who will be hoping it will be third time lucky for her the senior women’s race. She claimed bronze in 2023 and finished 22nd in 2024.
Just like Chelimo, Jepketer, the reigning the Asian Games 5,000m champion, will be opening her season at Sirikwa, ahead of the busy marathon calendar.
Contention for men’s 10km title
Jepketer placed sixth in last year’s Mersin International Marathon, Turkey in a time of 2:35:52. She finished 10th in the 2025 Hamburg Marathon in a time of 2:28:51.
Another notable entry is that of the 2023 German marathon champion Esther Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer, who returns to Sirikwa after finishing 42nd in 2023, has established a good CV in road running in Europe. She won the 2023 Generali Koln Marathon in a personal best time of 2:37:00.
She set a career best 68:28 minutes in half marathon at the Generali Köln Half Marathon in October last year.
Not only did Pfeiffer smash the course record of 68:51 minutes set by Sabrina Mockenhaupt in 2008, but she also became the third fastest German woman ever over the distance.
Only German record holder Melat Kejeta (65:18) and Konstanze Klosterhalfen (65:41) have ever been faster than the 28-year-old Pfeiffer.
France’s 2021 and 2022 national marathon champion Duncan Perrillat, makes a second return to Sirikwa after finishing a distant 63rd in 2024 alongside Swedish national 10,000m and 10km Road champion, Morgan Le Guen.
Last year’s Kip Keino Classic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medallist, Ethiopian Gemechu Godana, who is fresh from winning the Moscow Indoor 3,000m race on Saturday, is in contention for men’s 10km title. Other Ethiopian entered are youngster Ayele Sewnet and steeplechaser Zeritu Daba.
