Dieudonne Disi left Kigali for Nigeria yesterday ahead of the MTN half marathon race slated for this weekend in Lagos. The long distance runner told Times Sport yesterday before his departure that he decided to travel to West African earlier enough so that he gets time to acclimatize with the region’s weather conditions. Last, the half marathon national record holder finished third; however, he isn’t entirely convinced of a better performance this time round due to the fact that he never had ample time to prepare for the competition. “A flight to and from Germany last month hindered my preparation for this competition and yet my rivals Solomon Busiendich and Francis Kibiwott had enough time to prepare,” Disi said. But the former APR athlete is ready to do the best he could against his more established Kenyan rivals for a share this year’s $210.000 prize money. Disi finished the European road race season with a victory in the Delhi half-marathon in India in October. The 10000m, 5000m and half-marathon national record holder has set his sight on winning a medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games before retiring from the national team. He was the first Rwandan athlete to qualify for the Olympic Games with his time of 27:22:23 in 10.000m at the Memorial Van Damme race held in Belgium, which also helped him surpass the minimum required standard ‘A’ time (for the Games) 27:50.00. He also produced another stunning performance in Udine, Italy during the World road running championship where he finished sixth in 59:32. Francis Kibiwott won last year’s even while his colleague Solomon Busiendich took second place.Ends
