Will Kenyan men shatter marathon relay record in Paris?
Athletics
By
Stephen Rutto
| Nov 02, 2025
For six Kenyan men,Saturday`s Ekiden de Paris marathon relay is literally a race against time.
The squad of Copenhagen Half Marathon winner Edward Cheserek, John Lomoni, Amos Kipkemoi, Brian Kibor, Ezra Ondiso and Elisha Kiprop are chasing history in a relay marathon primed to demolish a world record which has stood for 20 years.
Cheserek, who was a reserve, was a late entrant in the marathon relay that starts at 11am Kenyan time.
He replaced Meshack Lelgut and will be racing the third leg, which is a 5km distance.
Cheserek said the team of six will be praying for favourable weather conditions in Paris in their mission to run 1 hours 56 minutes and shatter the 2005 world record of 1:57:06 set by Daniel Mwangi, Mekubo Mogosu, Onesmus Nyerere and John Kariuki.
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“I am ready to play my part and help my team to achieve the dream of breaking the world record,” Cheserek said.
He said the squad will be hoping that their training under Kiprun in Iten will push them to a historic performance today.
“As an individual and as a team, we prepared well, and we are confident of doing our best,” said Cheserek, adding that the team had adequate mental preparation for today’s assignment.
Kibor, who is fresh from a third place at the Valencia Half Marathon last weekend, yesterday said the flat course, coupled with good weather, is expected to propel them to a record today.
The road-running star said training for the world record attempt was special.
“The speed works were unique. We were running against the targeted time. We also followed each other in a manner unlike the normal preparations for races,” Kibor said.
He went on to say: “Running 1:56 is possible on Sunday because we will be challenging our limits. I want to run my 10km leg so well so that I can motivate my team to achieve.”
Kibor said their training involved the changing of batons in a marathon relay where participants use belts instead of the usual track batons.
“We were briefed well by the coaches, and we began the preparations,” he added. As the anchor, Kibor is running the last 7.195km.
Amos Kipkemoi, who will be running the second 10km bit, said alongside teammates, they prepared for the Ekiden de Paris relay for at least two months.
“We feel under pressure, but we have to do our best because we trained hard for this,” Kipkemoi said.
Team coach Dr. Byron Kipchumba said he was hopeful that if weather conditions do not change today, the squad would make history.
“Our expectations are that it can’t rain on Sunday and the temperatures don’t fall below the current 9 degrees Celsius. Weather changes can easily affect adaptation,” Kipchumba said.