FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TÜRKIYE IS BANKASI ISTANBUL MARATHON ON 3rd NOVEMBER:
Istanbul elite fields with promising mix of experience
and younger challengers
A mix of highly experienced marathon runners with strong personal records
and younger challengers could produce some fascinating races at the 46th
Türkiye Is Bankasi Istanbul Marathon on 3rd November. Ethiopia's Abebe
Negewo and Kenneth Kipkemoi of Kenya head the current start list with
personal bests of sub 2:05:00. Kenya's former World Championships' marathon
bronze medallist Sharon Cherop is the fastest woman on the list with
2:22:28. Cherop, Negewo and Kipkemoi have all turned 40 this year, but they
are still going very strong. They will have to hit top form if they want to
challenge for victory in Istanbul. Ethiopians Kelkile Gezahegn and
Sentayehu Lewetegn will be among their rivals while 24 year-old debutant
Betty Kibet of Kenya could produce a surprise.
A total of 42,500 runners have entered the race that leads the athletes
from the Asian side of the city onto the July 15 Martyrs Bridge and then
into the European part of Istanbul. 7,500 of them will run the classic
distance on 3rd November. The event is a World Athletics Gold Label Road
Race, which guarantees high standards in every aspect. Entries will still
be accepted until next Monday (14th October) at: https://maraton.istanbul
"No marathon is run in a city that bears the traces of three great empires
that have left a significant mark on world history. No marathon passes over
a bridge that connects continents above a magnificent strait. Thanks to
this unique feature, we believe that the Türkiye Is Bankasi Istanbul
Marathon is the best thematic marathon in the world," said Race Director
Renay Onur.
There are now many examples of runners who have turned 40 and still going
strong:
Kenenisa Bekele, Tadesse Abraham or Edna Kiplagat are among them. With a
personal best of 2:04:51 Abebe Negewo is the runner with the fastest PB in
the Istanbul field. He ran this time in Valencia in 2019 when he was
fourth. While Negewo, who is also known as Abebe Degefa, has not raced as
often as during his early career he produced one excellent marathon in each
year: 2:05:27 in Valencia in 2021, 2:06:05 in Hamburg in 2022 and 2:08:12
in Rotterdam last year. Negewo has not competed yet this year, so if he
wants to continue this streak of strong results Istanbul will be his best
chance.
Kenneth Kipkemoi is the other top-class marathon runner in Istanbul's men's
field who turned 40 this year. The Kenyan's last three marathons were
consistently fast: Kipkemoi ran 2:08:15 in Rotterdam in 2023 and then won
the Eindhoven Marathon in the autumn with a personal best of 2:04:52. This
year he returned to Rotterdam where he was fourth with 2:05:43.
Two Ethiopians who are more than ten years younger will be among the
favourites as well. 28 year-old Kelkile Gezahegn, who has a PB of 2:05:56,
is a runner who focusses fully on the classic distance. Since the start of
his international career in 2016 he competed only in city marathons. He
managed to win all his first four marathons in the year 2016, all in China.
"The marathon is my distance," said Kellie Gezahegn when he won the
Frankfurt Marathon in 2018. Dejene Debela is 29 years old and ran his
personal best of 2:05:46 when he was runner-up in Chicago in 2019. After a
two year-break, which seems to have been injury related, he came back this
year with 2:09:33 in Taiyuan, China.
Sharon Cherop is the most prominent athlete in the elite field of the
Türkiye Is Bankasi Istanbul Marathon. The 40 year-old Kenyan took the
bronze medal in the marathon at the World Championships in Daegu, South
Korea, in 2011. A year later Cherop won the prestigious Boston Marathon and
in 2013 she clocked her PB of 2:22:28 when she was runner-up in Berlin.
This PB makes her the fastest woman on the start list in Istanbul. Sharon
Cherop is still going strong. Last year she won the Milan Marathon and this
spring she was second in Hannover with 2:24:41. "I think I can run for a
couple of more years," she said after the race in Germany.
Sentayehu Lewetegn will be among Sharon Cherop's challengers. The Ethiopian
ran a strong debut in Frankfurt in 2018 with 2:22:45 for sixth place. The
28 year-old could not improve this PB yet, but she came close in Ljubljana:
Two years ago she was second there with 2:22:36.
Betty Kibet is an athlete who could have an immediate impact in the
marathon. The 24 year-old Kenyan will run her debut over the classic
distance in Istanbul. While she has a promising 66:37 half marathon PB she
ran the Türkiye Is Bankasi Istanbul Half Marathon this April and finished
sixth with a fine 68:39. Betty Kibet, who was a world-class junior athlete
in her early career, has a strong 10k PB of 31:08 and ran 1:21:43 in
Kolkata, India, for 25k in December last year.
More information and online entry is available at: https://maraton.istanbul
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