Sports

OLYMPIC hopefuls Epiphanie Nyirabarame and Felix Ntirenganya will be chasing for London Games slots when they race in tomorrow’s Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon.

Ntirenganya, who runs for Police athletics club, is chasing for his maiden appearance at the Olympic Games while Nyirabarame is eyeing a third appearance after representing the country in Greece (2004 Olympic Games) and Beijing (2008 Olympic Games).

Ntirenganya, who hit his personal best in 2010 after clocking one hour, three minutes and 59 seconds in the half marathon (Polpenazze del Garda) needs to be at his very best this Friday.

After a failed attempt in last year’s World Athletics Championship in South Korea, Nyirabarame is raring to have another go.

In Daegu, Nyirabarame, who has a personal best of 2:33:59 pulled out of the 42.195km full marathon after suffering a leg injury.  However, she still needs to slash down the time by two minutes.

Last year, Kenya’s David Tumo Barmasai clocked 2:07:18 to win the men’s category while Aselefech Mergia Medessa of Ethiopia swept the women fray after using 2:22:45.

bonnie.mugabe@newtimes.co.rw