{"id":227856,"date":"2026-02-10T12:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/10\/kenya-kamworor-yeshaneh-to-headline-star-studded-2026-rak-half-marathon\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:07:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:07:00","slug":"kenya-kamworor-yeshaneh-to-headline-star-studded-2026-rak-half-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/10\/kenya-kamworor-yeshaneh-to-headline-star-studded-2026-rak-half-marathon\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya: Kamworor, Yeshaneh to Headline Star-Studded 2026 Rak Half Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"44\">Nairobi \u2014 <em>The &#8220;fastest half marathon in the world&#8221; is set for a historic return as Kenya&#8217;s legendary Geoffrey Kamworor and Ethiopia&#8217;s former world record holder Ababel Yeshaneh prepare to headline the 19th edition of the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon on Saturday, February 14.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"28\">Organizers have confirmed a formidable elite field for the World Athletics Elite Label road race, which will be held exclusively on the scenic and lightning-fast Al Marjan Island.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"21\">For both athletes, the return to Ras Al Khaimah is a homecoming to the roads that helped define their storied careers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n  <span style=\"font-size: 110%;\"><br \/>\nFollow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VaIdDi8Bqbr263erhw1K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WhatsApp<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/allafrica\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a> for the latest headlines<br \/>\n  <\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"33\">Kenya&#8217;s Geoffrey Kamworor, widely regarded as one of the greatest distance runners of all time, first announced himself to the world on this very course in 2013, where he secured a breakthrough victory.<\/p>\n<div id=\"responsive-aans-view-a-container\" class=\"outer-ad-container adsense-outer-ad-container adsense-responsive-outer-ad-container responsive-aans-view-a-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-container adsense-ad responsive-ad adsense-responsive-ad responsive-aans-view-ad responsive-aans-view-a\">\n<div style=\"display: block; width: 300px; height:250px; margin: 0 auto;\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imf.org\/external\/pubs\/ft\/ar\/2025\/download\/french\/?cid=ba-afr-allafrica-ar2025-desktop_mobile-300x250-fr-feb2026\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n      <br \/>\n    <\/a>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/.ad-container.adsense-ad.responsive-ad.adsense-responsive-ad.responsive-aans-view-ad.responsive-aans-view-a--><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/.outer-ad-container.adsense-outer-ad-container.adsense-responsive-outer-ad-container.responsive-aans-view-a-container--><\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"33\">A decade later, the three-time World Half Marathon champion and two-time New York City Marathon winner returns as the fastest man on the 2026 start list, boasting a blistering personal best of 58:01.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"18\">Challenging for the women&#8217;s title is Ethiopia&#8217;s Ababel Yeshaneh, a runner whose name is etched into RAK history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"25\">In 2020, Yeshaneh stunned the global athletics community by clocking a then-world record of 1:04:31 on this course, shattering the previous mark by 20 seconds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"22\">After a strong runner-up finish in 2024, she returns with her sights set firmly on reclaiming the top step of the podium.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"26\">The 2026 edition promises to be one of the most competitive in the event&#8217;s history, with the flat, sea-level route designed specifically to produce world-leading times.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/.outer-ad-container.adsense-outer-ad-container.adsense-responsive-outer-ad-container.responsive-aans-view-b-container--><\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"26\">As the athletics world turns its eyes to the UAE this Valentine&#8217;s Day, the stage is set for a classic Kenya-Ethiopia showdown over the 21.1km distance.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/.story-footer-link--><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/202602100395.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nairobi \u2014 The &#8220;fastest half marathon in the world&#8221; is set for a historic return as Kenya&#8217;s legendary Geoffrey Kamworor and Ethiopia&#8217;s former world record holder Ababel Yeshaneh prepare to headline the 19th edition of the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon on Saturday, February 14. Organizers have confirmed a formidable elite field for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":227857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6802],"tags":[151,72,155,157,160,153,179,88,152,161,156,154,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-227856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-athetics","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-athletics","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-current-events","12":"tag-east-africa","13":"tag-economy","14":"tag-kenya","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-sport","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-trade","20":"tag-travel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}