Sande Bashaija
8 October 2008
Kampala — The challenge ahead is too tough but Moses Cherop is good enough for the assignment.
The youngest of the four-man team, Cherop will open the account as Uganda seeks a better display in the Standard Chartered Bank-sponsored Greatest Race on Earth (GROE) marathon 2008/9 series. He tackles the first of the four legs in Nairobi on October 26.
Determined youngster
"I am in good shape. And my target will be qualifying for next year's World Championships in Germany," Cherop vowed as Standard Chartered Bank announced a Shs20m sponsorship package for the Ugandan team.
Drafted in the team as a replacement for the experienced Francis Yiga, Cherop surprised everyone by clocking 2:18:26 hours in last year's Nairobi edition. His performance put Uganda in pole position, a good four minutes and 16 seconds ahead of the Nations Challenge eventual winners Kenya B. The other three runners though couldn't maintain Uganda's lead as the team catapulted to finish in fourth position as the series concluded in Singapore.
Strong team
This time round, national marathon record holder (2:12:12) Alex Malinga will run the Singapore leg on December 7 while Amos Masai (January 2009) and Joseph Nsubuga (February) complete the grueling series in Mumbai and Hong Kong respectively.
"The marathon characterises Standard Chartered's values of teamwork, a 'can-do' attitude and determination to go the distance.
Good history
The Ugandan team has performed well in the past series and hopefully they will do better," Standard Chartered Bank Acting Chief Executive Officer Segun Odusanya said yesterday. Team Uganda's best performance was a third-place finish in the 2005/6 series.
Nations Challenge Prizes
1st - Shs132m
2nd - Shs82.5m
3rd - Shs49.5m
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