Africans expected to dominate Palermo Half Marathon
Today and tomorrow the ritual of the bibs and race packet, then everything will be ready for a record-breaking edition, the 11th edition, of the XI Palermo International Half Marathon-Trofeo Nuova Sport Car BMW, scheduled for Sunday, in a circuit between the sea of Mondello and the city center: the race will be valid as the fourth race of the international circuit Running Sicily-Trofeo Mini, and for the regional absolute half marathon championship.
The route of the 2024 edition, certified by World Athletics, has been partially modified to make the race more spectacular, with a shorter passage through the Favorita park, while in Piazza Ruggero Settimo there is planned a turning point in the area in front of the music stage and afterwards the Politeama theater. Never like this year, among men, the prediction is uncertain. The feeling is that Africa will lead the race.
Certainly Olivier Irabaruta (bib number 3), winner in Palermo in 2021 and 2023, stands out as a candidate for success, in the slightly over twenty-one kilometer course. The Burundian ran the half marathon in Milan this year in 1:02:55. Separating him from the hat-trick of victories at the finish line in Mondello will be 32-year-old Kenyan Joseph Kimeli Kimutai (bib number 4) from Dinamo Running who boasts a personal best of 1:01:46 (last year in Udine), Eritrean Freedom Amaniel (bib number 5), 28 years old (this year he won the half marathon in Reggio Emilia in 1:03:54), Burundian Jean Marie Bukuru (bib number 6), 22 years old (record of 1:03:03) and Kenyan Bonface Fundi Njiru (bib number 7), 33 years old, with a personal best of 1:02:00.
Among the women, the fight for the top spot should be a tight affair between two Kenyan athletes: 29-year-old Teresiah Kwamboka Omosa (bib number 1), who holds a personal best on the 21.0975 Km distance of 1:10:29 set in 2022 in Arezzo (this year she won the half marathons in Nancy and Florence) and the winner of the 2023 edition of the Palermo International Half Marathon, Cheroben Emily Chepkemoi, 30 years old, bib number 2. Also on Sunday, the non-competitive Cammarata Sport Walkthon (always 10 Km) is scheduled.
Tomorrow Nando Sorbello, president of Agex, which organizes the half marathon, will deliver a car – the result of donations from fans, sponsors, and organizers – to Don Pino Vitrano of the Mission Hope and Charity.
Mezza maratona di Palermo, il pronostico è che gli africani comanderanno la corsa
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