John Kelai

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En route to victory at the 2005 Enschede Marathon John Kelai Enschede.JPG
En route to victory at the 2005 Enschede Marathon

John Ekiru Kelai (born 29 December 1976) is a male long-distance runner from Kenya, who specialises in the marathon. He set his personal best of 2:09:09 hours for the distance at the 2005 edition of the Eindhoven Marathon, where he finished fourth. He is a two-time winner of the Enschede Marathon, also in the Netherlands, and had consecutive wins at the Mumbai Marathon in 2007–2008.

Contents

Biography

Kelai won the 2003 Singapore Marathon, the 2004 Brussels Marathon, and was the 2007 winner of the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. In 2009 he was third at the Mumbai Marathon, failing to defend his title, and took fourth at both the Singapore and Karstadt Marathons. [1]

He was selected for the marathon at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and he moved away from the field in the final 10 km to become Commonwealth champion (only the second Kenyan man to take the title after Douglas Wakiihuri). "I am so humbled to win here. It is an honour. I didn't know I could be the winner", said Kelai, "I feel on top of the world". [2] He stayed on in Asia for 2011, coming sixth at the Mumbai Marathon and third in Singapore. [3] [4]

He was invited to the 2012 Brighton Marathon and was third in a Kenyan podium sweep. [5]

Achievements

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya
2003 Singapore Marathon Singapore 1stMarathon2:19:02
2004 Brussels Marathon Brussels, Belgium 1stMarathon2:10:59
Singapore MarathonSingapore4thMarathon2:17:49
2005 Enschede Marathon Enschede, Netherlands 1stMarathon2:11:44
Eindhoven Marathon Eindhoven, Netherlands 4thMarathon2:09:09
Singapore MarathonSingapore5thMarathon2:16:58
2006 Enschede Marathon Enschede, Netherlands2ndMarathon2:12:05
Eindhoven MarathonEindhoven, Netherlands14thMarathon2:18:37
2007 Mumbai Marathon Mumbai, India 1stMarathon2:12:30
National Capital Marathon Ottawa, Canada 4thMarathon2:11:10
Toronto Waterfront Marathon Toronto, Canada1stMarathon2:09:30
2008Mumbai MarathonMumbai, India1stMarathon2:12:22
Toronto Waterfront MarathonToronto, Canada5thMarathon2:12:43
2009Mumbai MarathonMumbai, India3rdMarathon2:12:13
Ruhr Marathon Essen, Germany 4thMarathon2:11:15
Singapore MarathonSingapore4thMarathon2:13:14
2010Enschede MarathonEnschede, Netherlands1stMarathon2:12:17
Commonwealth Games Delhi, India 1stMarathon 2:14:35

References

  1. ↑ Kelai, John. Marathon Info. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  2. ↑ Rowbottom, Mike (14 October 2010). "Double marathon triumph for Kenya ends athletics programme at Commonwealth Games". IAAF . Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  3. ↑ Krishnan, Ram. Murali (16 January 2011). "Assefa and Yal take down course records in Mumbai". IAAF. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "Kenyans sweep in Singapore". IAAF. 4 December 2011. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
  5. ↑ Butcher, Michael (15 April 2012). "Course records fall in Brighton". IAAF. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
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