Sande Bashaija
29 October 2009
Kampala — Amos Masai halted Kenya's three-year dominance on the MTN marathon last year and Joseph Nsubuga is now determined to keep the 42.195km gold medal home.
Nsubuga, a UPDF officer, won the inaugural MTN marathon title in 2004 but was relegated to silver in 2007 by Kenyan Tuwei Kiprop and only took part in last year's marathon as a pacesetter due to other international.
He also skipped the 2005 and 2006 editions. Nsubuga, who has spent two months undergoing high altitude training in Bukwo is now keen to regain his title and take home the Shs5m cash prize when the marathon gets underway on November 22. "When you have trained enough, marathon running is fun. I will come into the race to have fun and hopefully win the money," Nsubuga said.
One of Uganda's most consistent long distance runners, Nsubuga will be competing in the Standard Chartered marathon in Hong Kong next February but is not worried about burning out. "There is enough resting time before February," he stated.
Top runners from Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda will grace this year's marathon that has attracted a record 19,058 participants.
With Masai, last year's 42km winner, still recovering from injury suffered at the World Championships in Berlin in August, Nsubuga is Uganda's biggest hope for gold.
The start and finish has been moved from Lugogo Bypass to Kololo Airstrip. 204 teams are set to compete in the 10km corporate challenge.
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