(01-Feb) -- The Hervis Prague Half-Marathon announced yesterday that reigning champions Philemon Limo and Lydia Cheromei, both of Kenya, will return to the Czech Republic in hopes of defending their 2011 titles. Limo, 26, and Cheromei, 34, both dominated their respective races and finished over a minute ahead of their closest competitors in last year's race.
"I am pleased to come back to Prague, it's where I ran my best half-marathon performance," said Limo in a statement from race organizers. The Kenyan set a Czech Republic all-comers record of 59:30 with his win last year.
Women's champion Cheromei also recorded an all-comers record with her 1:07:33 victory a year ago. The mother of one is coming off a stellar 2:21:30 sixth place finish at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on January 27.
"Maybe one day I will bring the whole family over here," said Cheromei, the 2004 World Half-Marathon Silver medalist.
"We're delighted to see such fantastic runners taking part," added Carlo Capalbo, President of the Prague International Marathon Organizing Committee.
The race, which will be run on Sunday, March 31, as part of the RunCzech.com Series, drew 7229 total finishers in 2011, a sharp increase from the 6127 finishers in 2010. With two months until race day, officials say over eighty percent of the 11,000 available starting numbers have already sold out.
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