Two-time winner Stephen Njoroge seeks to repeat against a tough international field at this year’s T&T International Marathon (TTIM) set for Sunday.

This year’s 26.2-mile race which starts at 5 am will feature a total prize purse of US$5,000 for each race champion.

Mexican distance runner, who was born in Kenya, won the event in 2018 with a time of two hours, 23 minutes and four seconds.

He repeated last year in a slower time by a little over four minutes to finish in 2:27:15.

To earn the coveted title once again, he will need to beat fellow Kenyan-born Stephen Tanui, who was a sixth-place finisher in 2013 in the feature event of the Festival of Events which opens on Saturday with the TTIM Kiss National 5K at 4 pm.

In the women’s race, reigning women’s champion USA’s Grace Kahura, another Kenyan-born runner, will also be back aiming to repeat as well in the 38th edition of the TTIM.

Kahura placed third overall in 2:27:26.

Kenyan Stephen Njoroge sprinted to a hat-trick of wins in the T&T International Marathon, while his countrywoman Hellen Mugo stopped Grace Kahura, another Kenyan, from defending her title among the women on Sunday.

The 26.2-mile race which started just after 5 am in Freeport, in Central Trinidad and took the field to the Capital City before ending opposite the Prime Minister’s Office at While Hall at the Queen’s Park Savannah, was not without its normal hype for the few hundreds of runners that face the starter’s gun, but the Kenyans, both men and women, separated the sheep from the goat from the half-way stage.

Despite being hampered by the sweltering sun, Njoroge who lifted the trophy two times before, held off Colombian Jose Elmer Ararat to join the elite hat-trick winners club which includes T&T’s Michael Alexander, Kenya’s Simon Saweh and Pamenos Ballantyne of St Vincent and the Grenadines, recorded a time of two hours, 34 minutes and 30 seconds.

Njoroge said afterwards that he was just happy to have not only to win the race but win it for a third consecutive time.

He promised to be back next year to win it for a fourth consecutive time.

He told reporters the race was not easy because he had to use his technique to push himself to the finish amidst a tough field.

The slender-built Njoroge outsprinted the Colombian challenger inside the final 100 metres on the home stretch to claim victory.

However, Ararat was satisfied with his performance after sticking with his main rival for most of the race, only to surrender the challenge in a time of two hours, 35 minutes and 51 seconds.

Meanwhile, T&T’s Colin Pereira trodded across the finish line in the third position, being the first local to finish the race in a time of two hours, 40 minutes and 48 seconds.

The slender-built Mayaro runner performance has now provided hopes for fans and supporters, that he can stop the dominance of the Kenyans and other international runners at the event in the future.

After crossing the finish-line Pereira promised he will win it one day, as he only just missed out on it.

"The race was easy for me, I make a sacrifice by training 18 hours a week and I have no respect for the Kenyans.

I told myself today, I am going to run them down until the end, but unfortunately, when we reach San Juan, they docked in front of me and sort of stepped back a little bit.

But next year for sure I will be able to deal with the Kenyans," Pereira said.

He is now eyeing a place at the Olympic Games sometime in the future, saying he took over the mantle from Curtis Cox and intend to continue chasing the Kenyans.

"Two years ago I came fourth behind Cox and I told him to pass on the baton to me, I will take over.

He has been doing all the work, running down the Kenyans for the past years, so now is my turn," Pereira said.

Among the women, Mugo opened up a near 100-metres distance on her compatriot (Kahura) and broke the tape in a time of two hours, 51 minutes and 05 seconds.

Kahura, the defending champion, laboured across the line in 2:52:06, while Leah Kigen was third in 2:52:47.