Simbu now eyes medal in Mumbai

Dar es Salaam. Tanzanian athlete Alphonce Simbu, who finished fifth at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games men’s marathon in Brazil, is among runners expected to compete in this year’s Mumbai Marathon.

Simbu, one of the best long distance runners in the country at the moment, has made a promise he firmly intends to keep.

He said yesterday that he was confident he would make his presence felt in the race that will feature world class runners from various countries across the world and thereby keep his word to Tanzanians.

“I know that I will be up against top runners from various countries. I have trained intensively, so I am ready for anything,” the marathoner told The Citizen by phone from Arusha.

“If all goes well, I will leave for India next week for the race scheduled for later this month,” he said.

In August last year, Simbu came close to breaking Tanzania’s Olympic medal drought after finishing the 42-kilometre race fifth in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The 24-year-old clocked 2:11:15 hours to cross the finish line, a difference of 2:31 minutes from the gold winner.

The gold medal went to Kenyan Kipchoge Eliud who clocked 2:08:44.

Simbu’s finish is the best for the country in recent Olympic Games, signaling a bright future for the Arusha runner.

The last time Tanzania won a medal at the Olympics was at the 1980 Moscow Games, where Filbert Bayi (3,0000m, steeplechase) and Suleiman Nyambui (5,000m) bagged silver medals.

Thirty-six years on, the country has never replicated the performance of the legendary runners.

Reports from India have it that Ethiopia’s Dinknesh Mekash, who finished second in the 2015 Frankfurt Marathon, is among runners highly tipped to win the Mumbai race in the women’s discipline.

There are six women in the field with personal bests under 2:30:00 but Mekash twice ran under 2:29:00 in 2016.

The women’s course record is 2:24:33, set by Kenya’s Valentine Kipketer in 2013.

There will also a battle in half marathon, Dream Run (6km) and Senior Citizens Race (4.3km).

Ethiopia’s Ayele Abshero and Dinknesh Mekash, a two-time winner, head the elite fields at the 14th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon to be held on January 15.

Last year, Kenya’s Gideon Kipketer led an African clean sweep of the men’s marathon in podium at the Mumbai Marathon.

Amazingly, Kipketer started the race as a pacer or pace-setter and took the lead midway through the second half of the race.

His finish of 2:08:35 was almost a full second faster than the 2013 course record 2:09:32 set by Uganda’s Jackson Kiprop.

In the women’s marathon, Ethiopia’s Shuko Genemo in 2:27:50 went home first but could not beat the women’s course record.

In second place was Kenya’s Bornes Kitur (2:32:00), while Valentine Kipketer, Gideon’s sister, finished a distant third in 2:34:07 after a shoe mishap.