Kenyan men predict 7th straight London Marathon title despite late arrival in Britain

Kenyan men predict 7th straight London title

LONDON — Kenya’s men expect a seventh straight London Marathon title on Sunday despite a late arrival in Britain and the absence of injured three-time winner Martin Lel.

Olympic champion Sammy Wanjiru, world champion Abel Kirui and Duncan Kibet arrived in London three days before the race because of disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland.

Wanjiru, who won last year in a course-record time when Lel was absent, said the trio’s five-stop journey from Kenya had left them drained but confident in the value of their teamwork.

“I’m a little worried now, but after a good sleep I will start to look forward to it,” Wanjiru said Friday. “The problem affected everybody, but the organizers were very good.”

The trio intend to work as a team for much of the race to maintain a run of Kenyan success that began in 2004 with Evans Rutto.

Kibet said they will run together for 21.8 miles of the 26.2-mile course before they start to fight among themselves for supremacy.

“You cannot achieve things in this race alone,” Kirui said. “Maybe after 35 kilometers we will go it alone but at the end, if one of us wins, we will all celebrate because it will be an achievement for all of us.”

Forecasters predict an unseasonably warm temperature of 70 degrees for Sunday’s race.

That could help Wanjiru, who won in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 10 seconds last year. He’s still disappointed to miss Haile Gebrselassie’s world record after being on schedule at the 30-kilometer mark.

Gebrselassie ran the 2008 Berlin Marathon in 2:03:59.

“I wouldn’t talk about the world record here,” Wanjiru said. “The course is difficult with slopes and corners. But if the weather is good, I think I will run faster than last year.”

For all the talk of teamwork, Wanjiru thinks his biggest rival will be Ethiopa’s Tsegaye Kebede, last year’s runner-up.

“My preparation has been very good and I’m confident that I will have a good result this year,” Kebede said. “I’m prepared to win. One can’t run alone.

“In order to win, you must run with somebody. Wanjiru being there encourages me to push more.”