Harambee Stars captain Michael Olunga will test his hand at athletics when he takes part in this month’s Doha Marathon alongside his Al Duhail team-mates
Harambee Stars captain Michael Olunga will be among the star attractions at the 2024 Doha Marathon set to take place on February 16 in the Qatari capital.
Olunga will be joined by the rest of his Al Duhail squad, which includes Brazil midfielder Philippe Coutinho, after the club confirmed that the team will be among those running the race.
“As part of our partnership with I want and promoting mutual relations, Duhail Stars are taking part in the activities of the State Sports Day at Corniche Park, and also participating in the Doha Marathon on the 16th of this month,” Al Duhail said via a social media post.
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That will see Olunga and co test their mettle on the road and it will be interesting to see how they perform although the Kenyan international can draw confidence from the fact that he comes from a country loaded with athletics talent.
Al Duhail has not confirmed which race the squad will feature in but the Doha Marathon features four courses for all abilities of runners including a full marathon, half-marathon, 10km, 5km, special children’s 3km and 1km fun run.
The 2023 edition attracted 8,000 runners with Morocco’s Mohcin Outalha winning the men’s full marathon after clocking 2:06:49 ahead of Kenya’s Gevin Kerich (2:06:52) in second with another Kenyan Victor Kipchirchir and Ethiopian Adane Kebede finishing joint third in a time of 2:06:54.
Ethiopian Meseret Belete took top spot in the women’s category, clocking 2:20:45, with Desi Jisa Mokonin from Brunei finishing second in 2:20:47 while Kenyan Beatrice Cheptoo completed the podium after timing 2:22:28.
Organisers are targeting 10,000 participants this year with funds raised from the marathon set to be donated to a range of worthy charities in Qatar.
Olunga, who had been out since suffering an injury in December, returned to action for Al Duhail during their friendly match with Chinese giants Shanghai Shenhua last Thursday and will be hoping to start in Monday’s match against Russian side Zenit St Petersburg.
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