Victory and a course record the target for Langat in Brasov

The Trunsylvania 10km – a World Athletics Elite Label Race and the only road race of this status in Romania – made headlines in 2022 among the running community around the world with super-fast times in its 10km races.

One of the men to excel on that occasion was Kenya’s Weldon Langat, who is determined to go one better than his second-place finish last year.

The 25-year-old Tokyo 2020 Olympian in the 10,000m went on to win the high-quality Valencia 10km race in January in 26:55, which equalled his personal best from Brasov last September.

Langat has as his target the Trunsylvania 10km course record of 26:51 set by his compatriot Nicolas Kimeli when winning in 2022.

The course around Brasov is flat and fast, as proven last year, with a 3.3km loop that offers the spectators the opportunity to see the athletes three times, with the Transylvanian region’s Carpathian Mountains acting as a spectacular backdrop to the race on Sunday 10 September.

“We are in the process of establishing the Brasov Running Festival as one of the leading road race events in Europe with the ultimate aim of seeing world records set here,” commented Race Director Daniel Santa.

Also, in the men’s 10km elite field are a quartet of Langat’s Kenyan compatriots: World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 5000m contender Cornelius Kemboi; 2018 World Athletics U20 Championships 5000m gold medallist Edward Zakayo; Emanuel Kiprop, who has a 10km best of 27:13; Laban Kiplimo, who has a 10km best of 27:15.

Agnes Ngetich (KEN) finished sixth in the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 10,000m on Saturday night in a personal best of 31:34.83 and heads the women’s contenders for the Trunsylvania 10km.
In 2022, she was the pacemaker for the women’s race in Brasov but stayed in to finish second. Ngetich then went on to take the 2023 World Cross Country Championships bronze medal and has a 10km best on the roads of 30:27.

Other leading names in the women’s 10km race include Esther Borura (KEN), third on the 2023 world 10km list after her 30:15 for third place in Valencia, and Catherine Relin (KEN), fifth on the 2023 half marathon list with her impressive 1:05:39 best in Barcelona. Joy Cheptoyek (UGA), who ran a 10km best of 30:47 to win the Castellon 10km in Spain, Samantha Harrison (GBR) and Joan Chelimo Melly (ROU), who are second and fourth on the European 10km list for 2023, will also run.

Further elite runners for the Trunsylvania 10km – part of the Brasov Running Festival – will be announced closer to the race.

The Brasov Running Festival will also feature a European Road Mile on Saturday 9 September which will bring together many of the continent’s top middle-distance runners.

“With the Road Mile becoming a recognised record event, many of Europe’s top middle-distance runners will be bidding to write their name in the history books,” commented Santa. “One of the aims of the Brasov Running Festival is to make this part of Romania as famous around the world for its road races as it is for its gothic legends!”

In addition to the Trunsylvania 10km and European Road Mile, The Brasov Running Festival is also designed to engage and involve non-elite runners of all age-groups and abilities. On Saturday 9 September there are 800m, 1200m and 3000m children’s races while Sunday 10 September sees mass participation 5km and 10km races.