Olympic 5000m champion Joshua Cheptegei is coming to Belfast and is aiming to regain his world 5K road record on a circuit around the city centre.
The Belfast 5K is scheduled for Sunday, June 9 with elite mile races for men and women also on the programme.
Olympian James McIlroy is the man behind the event which will be broadcast by the BBC to 100 countries all around the world. It promises to be the highest profile running event in the North since the World Cross Country at Upper Malone in 1999.
“We were fortunate to get World Athletics gold standard at the outset and with the assistance of NN Running, the Ulster University and many others, we have managed to get the event off the ground,” said McIlroy.
“We’ve put in three years hard work to get to this stage.”
Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia currently holds the men’s 5K road record with a time of 12:49, set at the Cursa dels Nassos in Barcelona December 2021. That equates to four minutes 07.52 seconds per mile, or two minutes 33.8 seconds per kilometre.
Previously, Cheptegei held the record with a time of 12:51, set in February 2020 at Monaco.
Cheptegei is current Olympic 5000m champion and world record holder for both 5000m and 10,000m as well as holding the world best time over 15K.
He is three-time world champion in the 10,000m and double 5000m/10,000m gold medallist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast.
He was also world cross country champion in 2019 making him possibly the most accomplished athletes ever to run in the province.
The 27-year-old Ugandan had a successful 2023 winning the World 10,000m for the third consecutive time after finishing third in the World Cross Country held at Bathurst in Australia earlier in the year.
However, it ended in a low note when he finished quite distressed back in 37th place on his marathon debut in Valencia at the start of December.
His manager Jurrie Van Der Velden believes that the marathon experience will leave no lasting damage, either physical or mental, on his athlete.
“If you remember the 2017 World Cross Country (alluding to when Cheptegei collapsed holding what looked like a winning lead), that did him no harm,” explained Van Der Velden.
“After Valencia, Joshua took himself and his family off to a holiday in Malindi on the Kenyan coast to relax.
“He started back in training at the start of January with the Olympics being the main target. We’ve only planned up to 10th August which is, I think, the final of the 5000m. He will run two track races in May, he still needs a qualifying time for the 10,000m, as part of his preparations (for Paris) before coming to Belfast which is 50 days before the Olympics.
“Because Joshua does most of his training on roads, he will not have to make any adjustment to his training to run a road race in Belfast. Because of the European Championships, the season practically comes to a halt for a month in June and then in July, it’s very close to the Olympics, so Belfast fits in well.
“I was over in Belfast to go over the course and suggest a couple of modifications on what is a flat and fast course.”
The 5K which is also open to club and recreational runners will be preceded by elite miles for both man and women centred around the Ulster University campus in the city centre. One of these will also be open to the running public. Registration for all three races is now open on www.belfast5km.com. Elite athletes should contact McIlroy via the website.
The Larne man is also keen to highlight the social and economic benefit, he estimates £3m, the race should bring to Belfast and the exposure for Northern Ireland from the television coverage.
Meanwhile it’s a busy weekend at home with the National Indoor Championships at Abbotstown on Saturday and Sunday being the highlight. The action gets underway from 12pm on Saturday with most of the finals taking place on Sunday also from midday. Both days of competition will be streamed on the Athletics Ireland YouTube Channel.
Sarah Lavin (60m hurdles) and Mark Smyth (200m) headline the opening day’s action with the heats of both men’s and women’s middle-distance events always an interesting watch. Sunday’s finals should feature, among others, Ireland’s fastest man Israel Olatunde (60m), Tyrone teenager Nick Griggs (1500m), and Olympians Mark English (800m) and Louise Shanahan (800m).
The NI & Ulster Senior Cross Country Championships are at Carndonagh on Sunday with North Belfast Harriers (men) and St. Peter’s, Lurgan (women) set to defend their title.
THE WEEKEND FIXTURES
Saturday & Sunday
12pm – National Senior Indoor Championships – NIA, Abbotstown
Saturday
11:00am - Run Forest Run Castlewellan 10K/5K – Castlewellan Forest Park
Sunday
10.15am - East Coast AC Junior C-C Series Race 2 – Larne
12pm - Rás na hÉireann Cross-Country, Lawlesstown, Dunleer, Co Louth
1pm - McGrady Junior Cross-Country Series Rd 4 - Tollymore Forest Park 1:30pm - NI and Ulster Senior Cross-Country Championships – Carndonagh