A look ahead to this weekend’s IAAF World Half Marathon Championships where Zersenay Tadese, Wilson Kiprop and Lucy Kabuu are among those in action

As the only male member of the British team, Ben Moreau will be seeking to improve on his PB of 63:58 at Saturday’s IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen.

The Aldershot, Farnham & District AC athlete, who ran a personal best 2:15:52 over double the distance in the Fukuoka Marathon in December, will be hoping his new training regime in Australia since moving there two years ago will pay off this year, but is realistic about his chances in Denmark.

“It’s going to be a pretty high-quality group at the front so I’d hope that there’ll be a group that I can tuck in with going a bit quicker than PB-pace maybe 63:00, 63:30, and I ll see how it goes,” he said.

“I’m in good shape definitely. Last year obviously went very well. I haven’t raced much since the marathon in Japan so I haven’t really got a clear idea of what shape I’m in, but I’ve put a good few weeks together this year.”

Zersenay Tadese will attempt to win an unprecedented sixth gold medal at the event, the Eritrean having a remarkable record over 13.1 miles. He has made nine appearances at this event, winning 12 medals in total. In addition, he holds the world record for the distance with 58:23 from Lisbon in 2010.

Tadese’s rivals include Wilson Kiprop, the 2010 champion, and his Kenyan team-mate Geoffrey Kipsang, the 2011 world cross junior winner and a 58:54 half-marathoner.

Main contenders for the women’s race include Lucy Kabuu and Gladys Cherono of Kenya. Kabuu’s best is 66:09 and she has also run a 2:19 marathon. Cherono is not much slower with a best of 66:48 set last year. Britain is represented in the women’s race by Susan Partridge and Alyson Dixon. You can read more from Partridge on her thoughts ahead of this weekend here.

You can read more on Ben Moreau, his training and hopes for the year in the April 27 issue of AW, which is available here or digitally here, where you will also find a more in-depth preview to this weekend’s IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Denmark

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