Kenyan runners dominated the 18th edition of Kilimanjaro marathon ran on Sunday in Arusha, Tanzania.
Former Kampala marathon champion Lydia Wafula defended her women title leading to a podium sweep while Onesmus Kiplagat led 1-10 finish for Kenyan contingent.
The former 800m junior champion, Wafula faced little resistance from her competitors when she won in 2:47.05 ahead of Rosina Kiboino who timed 2:53.45 and completing the podium was another Kenyan Joan Rotich in 2:53.20.
The runner who moved from the two-lap race to road running said her ambitions said defending her title was an achievement.
““It was joyful when an athlete defends the title. Last year, I was in my best form. Same as this year, I wanted to run well in Tanzania, which I did in style,” said Wafula after the race.
The strict Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) member said despite the course being hilly and hard, I saw it good to run in front that paid off.
“I had to speed off in the starting stages. After 25km, I realized I was alone therefore I had to fight between winning the race and setting good time,” added Wafula, the mother of two.
The Lang’at women prison warden won the 2017 Kampala marathon champion (2:44.59)
“I can’t and will never run on Saturdays. Saturday is a day well preserved to serve my God and not run. I decided to compete in marathon because many marathons are run on Sunday unlike track events that normally finals are held on Saturday,” said the former world 800m junior finalists.
Wafula started as two-lap race runner as a junior but after graduating, she did not perform well on track and started as a pace-setter, which also did not offer her good results, then saw a good venture into road running and took up the challenge.
“I saw an opportunity in the marathon where they have no season, unlike track events that are seasonal. There are so many road races across the world run daily and have no season. I realized I was wasting too much time on track. Now am competing and managing marathon running so well,” said 2019 Kigali marathon 6th placed.
She started her career marathon during the inaugural Eldoret City Marathon in 2018 in Eldoret where she finished in 26th position but that did not deter her ambitions in the 42km distance.
Last year, Wafula led an all podium finish for Kenyan runners in Tanzania when she clocked 2:52.27 ahead of Monica Cheruto (2:58.00), Tecla Chebet (3:08.57) and Sheila Kiplagat (3:09.44) for all 1-2-3-4 Kenyan finish.
In men, Kipagat won the race in 2:16.56 ahead of Abraham Too (2:17.08) and Bernard Kipchirchir in 2:18.02.
Last year he won the title in 2:18.27 ahead David Rutoh (2:18.48), Philip Kangogo (2:19.29), Felix Kangogo (2:21.51) and William Cheboi (2:21.54).