Margeret Chelimo Kipkemboi and Miriam Chebet are the only Kenyans who will be taking part in the 66th edition of the Campaccio-International Cross Country in San Giorgio Su Legnano.
The race which will be taking place on Friday, January 6, is the 10th Gold level race of this season’s World Athletics Cross Country Tour.
Only two Kenyans Eliud Kipchoge (2009) and Hellen Obiri (2017) have registered wins at Campaccio.
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Kipkemboi is a two-time world medallist having taken the second position in her only previous appearance at Campaccio in 2020 and finished third at the Boclassic in Bolzano on Saturday, December 31, 2022.
Her counterpart, Chebet, will be heading to the race having finished fourth at the Cursa dels Nassos in Barcelona on Saturday, December 31, 2022.
Among their main competitors will be Eritrea’s Rahel Daniel, who won the Cross Country Tour races in Atapuerca in 2021 and Albufeira in 2022.
Daniel finished second in the 2022 edition at Campaccio and also topped the overall standings in the Cross Country Tour.
She holds a national record in the 10,000m after she finished fifth at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 in 30:12:15.
Nadia Battocletti from Italy will also be present, with the 22-year-old construction engineering student aiming to become the first Italian runner to reach a top-three spot at Campaccio since 2010.
In the men’s race, Burundi’s Rodrigue Kwizera will be aiming to further his triumph at the World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold race to four.
The Burundian has registered victories in Alcobendas, Amorebieta, and Venta de Banos, plus a second-place finish in Seville.
In the 2022 Cross Country Tour season, Kwizera topped the leaderboard having won in Soria, Seville, Venta de Banos, and Albufeira.
He will face competition from his fellow countryman Egide Ntakarutimana, Uganda’s Oscar Chelimo, Yemaneberhan Crippa (Italy), Birhanu Balew of Bahrain and Yohanes Chiappinelli (Italy), among others.
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