Simon Mwangi, a resident of Ndakaini, on Saturday bagged gold medal after emerging the winner in the 2018 edition of the Ndakaini Marathon.
Mwangi ran the perfect race along the scenic Ndakaini dam to cross the finish line at 1 hour 12 minutes to win race at its 15th edition.
The half marathon held in Murang’a County, attracted over 300 participants.
It was flagged off to perfect conditions at 8:00am offering entrants an excellent opportunity to set fast race times.
It was Mwangi’s fifth attempt at the race which finally bore fruits.
Mwangi stole the show, keeping up with the leading pack in the first half of the race, before showing Josephat Kamau who was fans favorite, a clean pair of heels at the halfway mark cruising to the win.
Kamau won a silver medal after finishing in second place.
Purity Kalekye bagged the gold medal in the women’s category after crossing the finish line at 1 hour and 34 minutes to win the race.
Norwegian, Marte Sendstad, was the surprise finisher of the day coming in second in the women’s 21KM race after clocking a time of 1hr and 38 minutes.
Other winners included Peter Gitau and Janet Ruguru who won the 10Km Men and Women categories, respectively.
Ruguru finished the women’s 10km race in 36mins and 41seconds with Maryanne Wangare coming second after finishing the race at 37mins and 24 seconds.
Majority of the elite runners though had registered to participate in the race as always, they missed this years edition.
Organisers attributed their absence to other competitive races that would happen on Sunday in Eldoret and Machakos respectively.
“I am glad I won the race today. I have been training at Iten with Wilson Kipsang (Former world record marathon holder and this has paid off. In future I would like to participate in other marathons but I do not have a sponsor,” Mwangi said.
Kalekye on her side attributed her win to consistent training, saying she knew she would emerge at the top.
“I trained well. I have been training at Iten together with athletes like Wilson Kipsang who have been encouraging me. I would like to continue with the same trend and also participate in other marathon events. I would also like to have a manager, currently I do not have one,” she said.
Ndakaini Marathon Chairman, James Mukuna said it was his joy to have spearheaded yet a nother successful race.
The race was flagged by Machakos First Lady Lillian Ng’ang’a who also participated in the 10 Km race.
Proceeds from sponsorship and registration will be channeled to the NDEKA community to support conservations efforts at Ndakaini Dam.