- The Granollers-Les Franqueses-La Garriga Half Marathon will be held on March 2.
- The late Samuel Wanjiru set a course record of 59:26 in the event in 2008.
- Some of the Kenyan runners who have been confirmed for the event include Amon Kiptoo and Esau Kemboi.
A number of Kenyans are set to travel to Spain to compete in the 2025 Granollers-Les Franqueses-La Garriga Half Marathon with their attention fully focused on the breaking the course record.
The contingent, which is led by Esau Kemboi and Amon Kiptoo, will be aiming to reclaim the course record that was set by their late compatriot Samuel Wanjiru.
Wanjiru, who lost his life in unclear circumstances in 2011, set a course record of 58:55 seconds in 2008 in the half marathon that is recognized by the World Athletics.
The mark stood for over 10 years before it was lowered to 58:55 by Ethiopia’s Hagos Hebrehivet in 2023.
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Since Wanjiru’s monstrous performance, the only other Kenyan runner who came closer to smashing the record was Abraham Kiptum. Kiptum clocked an impressive time of 59:58 in the 2019 edition in the streets of Granollers.
The responsibility to reclaim Wanjiru’s record in this year’s edition lies on Kiptoo and Kemboi, who are among the fastest entries confirmed by the organizers so far.
Kiptoo heads to Spain with a personal best of 1:01:30 which he set on April 7, 2024 in Madrid. On the other hand, Kemboi boasts a lifetime best of 1:01:50 that was achieved in Kenya’s capital City Nairobi.
Besides Kemboi and Kiptoo, some of the other brilliant runners that are expected to feature in the road race that is scheduled for March 2 are Ethiopia’s Mikiyas Barega (1:02:18) and Morocco’s Abderrahmane Aferdi (1:01:15).
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Speaking ahead of the showdown, AE La Mitja Vice President Joan Villuendas was confident that this year’s race will be a special one.
“We believe that getting under the hour should be a habit in La Mitja and this year there are a good handful of African athletes who can do it,” he was quoted by somGranollers.
Meanwhile, as Kemboi and Kiptoo will be chasing the men’s course record, their female counterparts led by Aurelia Jerotich will be aiming to clinch the women’s title.
Jerotich is expected to receive stiff competition from Jackline Cherono and Beatrice Mutai as well as Ethiopia’s Tekan Amare.
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