E Mutai: "I'm Set for No.1 This Time."

Published by CapitalFM on February 20, 2014

Emmanuel Mutai was probably thinking of a rousing home coming party in the final stages of the 2013 Virgin Money London Marathon when the inexplicable happened.

In the final kilometre, Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia surged past Mutai to win in 2:06:04 with compatriot Ayele Abshero finishing third behind the dispirited Kenyan who was left to rue what could have been.

And it was not over. In November, Mutai lined up for Chicago Marathon and ran the fastest he has ever completed the classic distance, a huge 2:03:52 lifetime best but once again, the monumental effort was only good enough for second.

Hip hop superstar, Nelly, once chorused in his hit #1, “Two is not a winner and three nobody remembers (hey)/what does it take to be number one?”

That must be a line replaying in Mutai’s head in his own terms on loop as he prepares for the April 13 London Marathon.

Despite the fact he is the course record holder (2:04:10) and has finished runner-up on two other occasions, Mutai, 29, is not the rank favourite at an event where he is facing two athletes who have ran faster than him in world record holder, Wilson Kipsang (2:03:24) and namesake Geoffrey Mutai (2:03:02) and home favourite, Mo Farah, the marquee debutant among others.

“This time, the field is so hard and I need to prepare myself very well for the tough competition,” Mutai spoke of the elite line-up that also includes Tsegay, Olympics and world champion, Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda), Boston winner, Lelisa Desisa (Ethiopia) and 2012 Paris titleholder, Stephen Biwott.

Pace making will be fronted by none other than former world record holder and Ethiopia’s distance running legend, Haile Gebrsellasie to boot.