Star-studded field set for Bahrain half-marathon

TDT | Manama                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Champion elite athletes from all over the world have come to Bahrain to compete in the third edition of the Bahrain Royal Night Half-Marathon, set to take place tomorrow under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

The prestigious event, organised in collaboration with the Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA), is a Label Race being held as part of the World Athletics Label Road Races calendar.

A staggering prize purse of more than US$200,000 is up for grabs amongst the elite men and women. Big names in global athletics are in the fray.

Among them are six of Bahrain’s best long-distance runners, including Rose Chelimo, the 2017 world champion in the women’s marathon and also the 2018 Asian Games champion in the marathon; Violah Jepchumba, the current Asian record-holder in the women’s half-marathon; Bontu Edao Rebitu, the women’s 5,000m bronze-medallist from the under-20 world championships in 2016; Dawit Fikadu, the 2019 Asian champion and 2021 Arab champion in the men’s 10,000m; Abraham Cheroben, silver-medallist from the 2018 World Half-Marathon Championships and Asian Games gold-medallist in the men’s 10,000m from that same year; and Joshua Lemushen Nakeri, who will be competing for the third time in the Kingdom’s biggest road race.

They will be up against a topclass field of leading distance specialists, some of whom include Yomif Kejelcha from Ethiopia, the men’s 10,000m silver-medallist from the 2019 world championships; his compatriot Tigist Assefa, the 2022 Berlin Marathon women’s race gold-medallist; Stephen Kissa from Uganda; and Felix Kipkoech from Kenya; to name a few.

There are also top elite athletes from Japan, Morocco, Lebanon, Djibouti and Algeria taking part. Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s events, the athletes expressed their delight to be competing in Bahrain and they hope to do well in the midst of the quality competition.

“I am very happy to be here,” said Bahrain’s Rose in the official pre-event Press conference held last night at the Golden Tulip Hotel. “I hope it will be a competitive race.

There are a lot of great athletes here.” She added: “I hope for each and every one to run good, and, God willing, I hope to run my personal best.” Ethiopia’s Tigist said: “I am in Bahrain for the first time. Everything I have seen is very nice.

I am very happy to be running here, and I hope I can get my personal best, inshaallah!” Bahrain’s Fikadu stressed that he is ready to give his maximum in the race and he expects a tough fight.

“I am ready!” he declared. “All the athletes here are very strong. I will be fighting in this race; I am very happy to compete against so many great athletes.” Kejelcha shared Fikadu’s sentiments. “I see a lot of familiar faces running together with me, and I am going to expect some fighting between us in the race,” Kejelcha said.

“Everyone has come here to win, not to lose, and I will also do the best that I can. “Getting the chance to come here is very good for me.

I’m going to run my personal best.” Rose and Fikadu noted that they are looking forward to the home crowd spurring them on in the race.

“I hope to hear the people cheering for us when they see us running for Bahrain,” Rose said. “I hope to do good to make our country happy.”