Istanbul plans for fast men’s race

With an outstanding personal best of 58:26 the Kenyan is among the ten fastest half marathon runners of all times. As well as its sister event, the N Kolay Istanbul Marathon which takes place in November, the Turkish half marathon went ahead in 2020 and 2021 despite the Corona pandemic. Organisers from Spor Istanbul are now ready to stage another high-quality race under strict hygiene restrictions and expect a field of around 8,000 half marathon runners. Online entry for the race and the 10k staged parallel is still possible.

Four runners on the start list feature personal bests which are faster than the current course record of 59:35, established by Kenya’s Kibiwott Kandie last spring. Since three of them have achieved their personal bests last year they are in a promising position for more success when they will come to Istanbul.

24 year-old Daniel Mateiko achieved a major breakthrough in 2021. First he broke the one hour barrier in Copenhagen with 59:25, then he improved by almost a full minute to 58:26 when he was third in Valencia. Fellow-Kenyan Rodgers Kwemoi is the second fastest athlete at the moment with a personal best of 59:16. He ran this time in his debut half marathon in Valencia last autumn.

Ethiopians Solomon Berihu and Huseyidin Esa will travel to Istanbul with personal records of 59:17 and 59:32 respectively. While Berihu clocked his PB when he was runner-up in New Delhi in 2019 Esa only emerged on the international road running circuit in autumn last year. The 21 year-old made an instant impact with a second place in Lisbon in 59:39 and then improved four weeks later at his second international race, winning in Poznan (Poland) with his current PB.

Turkey’s Aras Kaya will hope to do better than recently at the N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon. The former Kenyan was 12th in Istanbul with 63:36 last spring, the same position he had taken two years earlier in this race. In between Aras Kaya clocked his PB of 60:51 when he finished 24th in the World Championships in Gdynia, Poland. Competing for Turkey since 2016 Kaya won two European Cross Country titles and finished runner-up in these continental championships just two months ago.