Four seek London Games qualification

A four-man national marathon team leaves this evening for Rome ahead of the 18th Rome Marathon scheduled for Sunday at Via dei Fori Imperiali in Italy.The marathon team which is managed by coach Emmanuel Murenzi is comprised of Epiphanie Nyirabarame, Felix Ntirenganya, Jean Pierre Mvuyekure and Freddy Twahirwa.Murenzi told Times Sport yesterday, “We are well prepared and looking forward for the marathon race on Sunday.”“I believe in these athletes that they can get the needed requirements to enable them compete at London Games,” added Murenzi.The team departs for Rome this evening aboard SN Brussels.After representing the country at the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Nyirabarame, who turned 30 last December, hopes to seal the London slot.It is in this marathon race that Nyirabarame managed to qualify for Beijing Games. The trio of Ntirenganya, Mvuyekure and Twahirwa will be making their debut in an international competition.With London staging the Olympic Games in the summer, the cream of distance running has just a few months to secure a good time and national selection for the biggest marathon of them all and with the Rome route renowned as arguably the flattest in the world, organisers expect a line-up of male and female runners intent on pushing themselves and their rivals to the limit.Nyirabarame and his team mates who have been training in high altitude areas of Byumba, Northern Province has a personal best of 2:33:59 but needs to cut it down to 2hours and 31 minutes to stand a chance of competing in London.Adrien Niyonshuti is the only cyclist who has qualified for the main Olympic Games.

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Four seek London Games qualification