Look to the ladies at RAK Half

Not to be ignored, the fastest man in the field, Isaia Lasoi of Kenya says he is both ready to win and have a go himself at a new world mark.

It should be an intriguing contest between the Ethiopian women, since they share the same best time of 64min 14sec. On her own admission at the press conference this morning, Girmawit surprised herself when she set that time in winning here three years ago, and it remains a course record. But following her sub-30min clocking for 10k in Valencia two weeks ago, she suggested that the world record of another Ethiopian colleague, Letesenbet Gidey (62:52) is within reach.

Ejgayehu, meanwhile clocked her time in her first and only ‘half’ so far, again in Valencia three months ago. And so confident is she of a fast time that she is bringing her own pacemaker to ensure that she keeps her promise. Her agent, Yonas Mekonnon says, ‘She decided to try for the world record based on her recent training. She ran just over 64minutes in Valencia without good enough mileage. She was trained really for not more than six weeks after the track season was over and the longest training was 25km. However, this time she’s regularly been covering more than 28km with 3min 30sec pace at altitude. Her goal in this race is the world record’.

The women have certainly proved their worth in the nearly 20 years’ history of the event. Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya got in first when he ran a world record in the inaugural RAK ‘half’ in 2007, but the woman then took over with the other trio of world records being set by Mary Keitany and Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya and Ababel Yeshaneh of Ethiopia.

With his 58min 10sec in Copenhagen last autumn, Lasoi is by far the fastest man in the field, and is looking to emulate former winners who had previously finished in the top three. He was third last year, and said this morning, ‘I’ve been running 175-190 kilometres a week in training. I’ve prepared really well and I’m ready to win. Also, there have been some changes to the course, making it faster, so I think I can do under 58 minutes, and maybe even the world record is possible’.

The final stages of last year’s race were affected by winds and a thick mist which rolled in off the sea, but this year’s weather forecast couldn’t be better for Saturday, with temperatures for the 6.40 elite start at 15-16C (60F). In only their second year of overseeing the RAK ‘half’, the long-time Dubai Marathon organisers, Pace Events have increased participation in the parallel popular events, 2/5/10k to close to 10,000. Iyad Rasbey, VP of the RAK Tourism Development Authority said, ‘When the event began in 2007, we were looking to get 2500-3000 participants, so to get close to 10,000 is extraordinary’.

A live stream with English commentary will be available on Saturday from 6.20 am local time at: https://rakhalfmarathon.com/