Kenya's Cheruiyot eyes Frankfurt course record

Olympic 5,000m champion Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya is on a mission to silence her critics when she lines up on Sunday's Frankfurt marathon in Germany.

Cheruiyot 34, had planned to run her second marathon in Chicago, earlier this month, but was overlooked by the organisers and had to turn her focus on another race, which saw the Frankfurt organisers grab her signature, reports Xinhua news agency.

Now on Sunday, she will have one mission win in Frankfurt and send a message to organisers in Chicago that she is the real deal.

"My training has gone on well. There has been no issues and am happy with what I have attained. That will however be tested on the real course in Germany and I'm going to run my own race," said Cheruiyot before flying out to Frankfurt.

"I was supposed to run in Chicago Marathon two weeks ago, but I was not included in the final list and I opted to run in Frankfurt. I have no hard feelings for my omission in Chicago, but I like challenges and what they did is offer me one. I will take it in my strides in Frankfurt."

Cheruiyot, transited to the marathon running distance early this year, when she debuted in London, where she finished fourth in a race that had who is who in marathon running. She clocked a personal best time of 2:23.50 and she targets to improve on that record in Frankfurt.

In September, Cheruiyot was again on the losing end to compatriot and London marathon champion Mary Keitany, when the two clashed at the Great North Run.

Keitany's winning time was one hour, five minutes and 59 seconds with Cheruiyot clocking 1:07:44.

"I am looking forward to running the second marathon of my career in Frankfurt," Cheruiyot said.

"I won my first World Championship title in Germany in 2009 and will try to get my first big marathon victory there in 2017."

"When I ran in the Great North Run, I wanted to gauge my performance and indeed after coming in second position, I was able to know where to fine tune before I get to the big race in Frankfurt," said Cheruiyot.

In addition to the prize purse, organisers are offering 30,000 euros ($34,827) course record bonus and Cheruiyot said she can attempt to break the current record of 2:21:01, set five years ago by Ethiopian Meselech Melkamu.

In the men' s category in Frankfurt, defending champion Mark Korir, who trains in Iten, Elgeyo-Marakwet County, is optimistic he will retain his title on Sunday. He will be joining last year's second placer Martin Kosgey.

"I'm looking forward to a good race on Sunday because I have done my training well. I know there will be stiff competition but I'm up to task to deliver good results," said Korir in Eldoret.

Korir has had a significant marathon career in the past two years after winning Paris Marathon in 2015 before winning in Frankfurt Marathon last year. He started this season with a third place finish in Seoul Marathon.

--IANS

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