The three-time world half-marathon champion clocked his second-fastest time of 13.1 miles to win in the United Arab Emirates.
Geoffrey Kamworor believes he can be even better in the latter stages of his career. The 33-year-old has an illustrious CV that includes three World Athletics Half Marathon titles, two New York City Marathon wins, two World Cross Country Championships gold medals and a World 10,000m silver medal in Beijing.
Back in 2019, Kamvoror also set a half-marathon world record of 58:01 in Copenhagen, which he held for over a year. The Kenyan hasn’t broken the 20-second mark since then, but at this year’s Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon he clocked 58:13 and proved once again that he is one of the world’s best 13.1 milers.
Kamworor’s victory at the 19th edition of the Rak Half (February 14) came 13 years after he achieved his breakthrough in the same event, smashing his then personal best by more than half a minute in 58:54.
The standout man in the elite men’s field, Kamvoror ran sensibly in ideal conditions of 14C, with athletes starting at 6.15am due to the heat. The leading pack went through 5km in 13:50 and 10km in 27:42, but it was about 15km they covered in 41:25 when Kamworor made his move and pulled away from Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew and Kenya’s Gideon Kipkertich Rono.
He never looked back. With his metronomic running style, Kamvoror eased his way to the line and held his hands high, knowing he had not only taken the win, but the perfect performance ahead of his next marathon in London. He will now return to Kaptagat, where he trains with Eliud Kipchoge, with even greater belief that he can run well in the British capital in April.
“Running my second fastest half marathon is special and it gives me a lot of confidence in my preparations ahead of the London Marathon,” he told AW. “It was emotional because I wanted to win after 13 years. My dream came true here. My personal best is 2:04:23 (from London 2023) and I strongly believe that I have a lot of potential to do really well over the distance.
“Looking ahead, I’m still missing out on a very important medal at the Olympics, so I want to be on the podium in the marathon at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.”
With the absence of former marathon world record holder Abel Yeshane in the elite women’s field, it became a fairly open contest.
The fastest entry was Wede Kefale Bellew, who clocked a half-marathon best of 65:20 and arrives in the UAE off the back of a 29:56 run and fourth in last month’s Valencia 10km.
However, his compatriot Asmarech Anli won the tactical race in 67:21 in his first race over 13.1 miles. The lead group covered 5km in 16:31 and 10km in 32:45, so it was no surprise that the last half of the race was faster and Enley, who is the world under-20 10km best in 30:23 and clocked 14:41 over 5km, needed to secure the win.
The Rak Half course has seen several world records set over the years. In 2007, Sammy Wanjiru set a men’s world record of 58:53 at the RAK Half. Three women’s world records have also been set since then: Mary Kaytan’s 65:50 in 2011, Perez Jepchircir’s 64:52 in 2017 and Yeshane’s 64:31 six years ago.
In 2022, Jacob Kiplimo and Girmawit Gebrziheir set the records with times of 57:56 and 64:14 respectively, while Eilish McColgan set a British record of 66:26.
In the heart of Al Marjan Island in the United Arab Emirates, the Raq Half also included four different race distances: 2km, 5km, 10km and a half marathon, with 11,000 people taking part.
The 2026 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon is also sponsored by ASICS, Channel 4 Radio Network. ITP Media Group, Bisleri and Vitamin Well.
Top three elite athletes
Men
Geoffrey Volunteer (58:13)
Birhanu Balev (58:21)
Gideon Rono (58:36)
*The first seven men were under an hour
Women
Asmarech Enli Yeseneh (67:21)
Melknat Wudu Sharew (67:26)
Magdalena Shauri (67:30)
You can view highlights here.
