Three time Toronto marathon champion Philemon Rono and Barcelona marathon champion Victor Chumo are expected to provide the needed speed at the Sunday’s NN Mission Marathon running.
The experienced pacesetters will be the key for world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge, former Toronto marathon champion Laban Korir, former Olympic games and world marathon champion Stephen Kiprotich, Augustine Choge, Jonathan Korir among others in the road to Olympic marathon.
The race, initially set for April 11th at Hamburg in Germany was rescheduled to Enschede in the Netherlands on April 18th on the Twente Airport course.
Rono, who won the 2019, 2017 and 2016 Toronto marathon titles will be the main pacesetter, popularly called the rabbits in the race that has attracted world marathon record holder Kipchoge.
“As a pacesetter, you have a lot of mathematics to do in the race unlike the athlete. You need to be tactical, timely and stay focused to the laid down rules of the race organisers,” said Rono.
“With such experience in setting the pace, I will be mandated to ensure that I do my best to follow the rules to achieve the results,” added Rono.
Popularly called as junior police because of his height, Rono was last involved in a race when he finished 10th t the December Valencia marathon in Spain in a race won by Vincent Kipchuma.
Other pacesetters include Gideon Kipketer, Noah Kipkemboi, Philemon Kacheran, Alex Kibarus, Jackson Kiprop, Moses Koech, Sylvester Kiptoo and Bernard Cheptoch.