Kenya's Paul Koech and Ritah Jeptoo win Kenya's Biggest Marathon Event

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Submitted by IQ4News on Sun, 27/11/2011 - 6:32pm

Paul Koech and Ritah Jeptoo have managed to outclass over 2000 fellow runners in their different categories to take home a cool Ksh. 1.5 million each in what was billed as Kenya's biggest athletic event.

By Joab Apollo

Paul Koech and Ritah Jeptoo Busienei are the winners of this year’s Kass Eldoret marathon in male and female categories respectively. The two managed to outpace over 2000 fellow athletes who participated in the 42 Kilometer race that was billed as Kenya’s biggest marathon ever. This means that they each won themselves Ksh. 1.5 million. Koech clocked 2.19hrs while Jeptoo finished within 2.22hrs.

Donald Sambu and Peter Kosgey were 1^st runners-up and 2^ndrunners-up in the men’s race respectively in an event that began in Kapsabet town and ended at the Eldoret Town Hall. In the women’s category, Violah Bor emerged second while Faith Cheruto was third. The runners up smiled their way into the Transnational Bank, one of the sponsors of the race, and pocketed Ksh.500,000 (1^st runners up) and Ksh. 250,000 (2^nd runners up).

The event, which attracted over 150,000 fans going by Athletics Kenya Chairman Isaiah Kiplagat’s estimation, was in its fifth edition and brought together leading corporate firms in Kenya, with the major sponsors being Kass FM international, a multimedia vernacular news outlet. Kass FM C.E.O Julius Lemaon thanked the winners and called upon the Kenyan corporate bodies to help the youth tap their talent for the benefit of the country.

“I call upon the other corporates to come out and sponsor many events in Kenya. Our athletes are the champions of the world and there is no better way of recognizing them than an event like this” Lemaon said. He added that sports can be used to promote tourism which in the long run goes to earn the country billions in terms of revenue.

Benchmark for all the races in Kenya

“This is an event to Kenyans. We should invest in the youth and promote sports tourism in our country because they are the future. To build Kenya, we must invest in the youth by creating such opportunities for them” He added.

The Chairman of Athletics Kenya Isaiah Kiplagat was full of gratitude in his speech, saying that the organizers of the event had met the International threshold required.

“This is now the benchmark for all the races in Kenya. The event was well organized, meeting all the standards I set to the organizers. We will now allow you to have such a race in major towns like Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.” Kiplagat said. He however warned that his office would not allow politicians to take advantage of such meetings to drum up support for their selfish ends.

“We will not allow politicians to take to the podium and speak their politics. This is purely sports because we want our boys and girls to earn a living. Athletics is key to development” He said.

Bigger Marathon in store

The organizers now plan for even a bigger marathon next year bringing international athletes and will take place in all the major Kenyan towns simultaneously. Among those who graced the occasion were Members of Parliament, Executives of leading companies in Kenya and Kenyans from different walks of lives. Eldoret town was impassable as the streets were filled with fans and athletes.

The 12 Kilometer race which began at Kapsaret near the Eldoret International airport was won by Dennis Kipruto (Ksh. 50,000) followed by Hillary Kemboi (Ksh. 40,000) while Gideon Kipketer was third and won himself (Ksh.30,000). In the female category, winners were Joyce Jepkurui (Ksh. 50,000), Susan Tanui (Ksh. 40,000) and Gorethy Jepkoech (Ksh. 30,000) in that order. There was also a 5KM fun run that began at Langas along the Kisumu-Eldoret Highway.