CAPE TOWN – It is official - the fastest man ever over 12km will return to defend his title at the Cape Town 12 OneRun this Sunday.
Morris Gachaga, the 23-year-old Kenyan, stormed to a 33:27 win at the OneRun in 2017 to set the fastest time ever recorded over the 12km distance.
Gachaga is in better shape than before. On February 9 he finished fifth in the RAK Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon, clocking 59.36.
That was followed up with a third place finish in Lisbon where he covered the 21.1km in 60:17 on March 11, before heading off to London as pacemaker to Eliud Kipchoge who won the 2018 edition of the London Marathon.
The 59.36 (RAK Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon) places Gachaga eighth in the world this year over the half marathon and is a personal best for him over the distance by more than a minute (one minute two seconds) from his previous best of 60:38 run in Paris on March 5 2017.
Clearly he will be coming into the race in the best shape of his life and could potentially challenge his own record time if the rest of the field go with the required pace.
“I am looking forward to coming back to Cape Town to defend my title,” says Gachaga. “I have good memories of that race and want to do well. If things go well, maybe I can better my 33:27 and lower the world best.”
This will be Gachaga’s third visit to South Africa and second to Cape Town since running that World Best.
Injury curtailed his chances to challenge Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei at the inaugural Durban 10K CitySurfRun in 2017 where he had to settle for 10th in a season’s best of 29:47.
Always good to be featured front and central in @AthleticsWeekly! pic.twitter.com/ULRFueQSYz
— Morris Gachaga (@MorrisGachaga) April 30, 2018
Mathew Kiprotich Kimutai of Kenya will be making his debut appearance at the race and he will add depth to an already impressive men’s line-up.
His 43:48 for 15km run in Kabarak (Kenya) in July 2017, shows that he is no slouch and will be ignored at the rest of the field’s peril.