By Paul Gains
Noah Kipkemboi returns to the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon October 19 intent on victory in this World Athletics Elite Label race
A year ago the Kenyan recorded a personal best time in Toronto (2:07:31) to finish 3rd and now looks forward to another dual with the man who finished just eight seconds ahead of him in second place, his countryman Dominic Ngeno.
“I hope to win,” he says with a smile. “Because he (Ngeno) challenged me last year with two kilometres [to go]. I think this time I will be able to catch up with him.
“For sure we are training good. Last week I ran in the Klagenfurt (Austria) Half Marathon, I was third (62:09). Last year I went to that race (and ran 62:23) and then had a good race in Toronto. I think will run my best in Toronto.”
Kipkemboi, 32, is represented by Global Sports Communications, the Netherlands-based management company that also represents marathon superstar, Eliud Kipchoge a two-time Olympic champion at the distance. Besides training at the Global Sports camp in Kaptagat, they travelled the world together. Kipkemboi has been a faithful pacemaker for Kipchoge. Indeed, he helped him to a then world record of 2:01:09 in the 2022 Berlin Marathon.
“I am in the same camp as Eliud, we train together and we race together,” Kipkemboi reveals. “Most of the races I have been pacing have been for Eliud.
“Always I have been pacing him because he is a good guy, and you cannot push to a time he doesn’t like. I have been training with him at camp, so I always know how to run with Eliud in races when I pace him. When you are a pacemaker, you have to be ready to help push.”
The group trains under Coach Patrick Sang, himself an Olympic silver medalist in the 3,000m steeplechase. From Monday to Friday, they live at the camp, going home only on weekends. The commitment is even more impressive considering that Kipkemboi has a wife and three young children at home in Eldoret. He has a plot of land there on which he farms, and he also owns a shop. Both ventures he sees as preparation for life after running.
“Things I sell in the shop are things human beings use like soap, flour, sweets, many things, perfumes,” he explains. “That is what I have in the small shop.”
Like many Kenyan runners he has a strong commitment to his community and to helping others.
“I am supporting some people who are in need. Like right now I’m supporting some students at my village,” he reveals. “It is opportunity to help whoever needs help in my village. I have some kids in my village who need support now and after five years.”
That support includes paying school fees and providing food. It is by competing at races such as Toronto Waterfront that allows him to help his family and the community in which they live. But Toronto, he says, has also provided cherished memories.
“We went to see Kenyan people while there last year,” he says smiling again. “In Toronto we were like at home because there were Kenyan people living there who came to say hi to us. We were as happy as if we were at home.”
Returning to Toronto to face a strong field once again is foremost on his mind as he puts in the training volume necessary to be competitive. And it is with confidence that he fine tunes the preparation in the coming weeks.
“I am now preparing for a win. It is my hope to win the race this time,” he declares. “My objective is just to win and improve my time. I ran my personal best in Toronto (2:07:31) but I want to improve upon that.”
The Toronto Waterfront course record is 2:05:00 held by another of KIpkemboi’s training partners, Philemon Rono. Should the conditions and the designated pacemakers be ideal that could well be a target on race day.
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