Stephen Arita yesterday upset favourite Enock Onchari to win the Nyamira North 10km race.
Experienced marathoner Winfridah Moseti won the women’s title during the third edition of the five part Nyamira Great Run series.
It was sweet revenge for Arita who finished second in the Masaba North 10km race a month ago.
Yesterday’s race started at Gekendo Primary School and finished at the proposed Esanige Stadium.
Arita, who runs for the Kenya Defence Forces, was in the leading pack throughout the race but broke away at the 8km mark and never looked back. Onchari’s attempts to catch up with him proved futile.
Arita won in 28:55.05 while Onchari, the winner of the first two events of the series, came second in 29:19.54.
“We ran together up to 8kms when I decided to break away from them. Since I have a strong finishing kick, I decided to widen the gap,” said Arita. He said he was using the event to prepare for the KDF cross country and the December 13 Nyamira Great Run 21kms event.
On his part, Onchari said he has not fully recovered after pacing in the Paris Marathon last month.
“I’m contended with my second place finish since this is the first event since I paced in the Paris Marathon. I’m now heading back to my training base in Iten to prepare for the 21km race,” said Onchari.
Evans Mayaka came home third in 29:27.80 with Barnabas Lemah finishing fourth in 29:27.90. Felix Boera (29:35.60) and Richard Atuya (29:36.40) closed the top six places.
In the women’s category, Moseti who recently finished fourth in Milan Marathon clocked 33:34.32 to win the race ahead of of Nancy Kerage who timed in 36:02.66.
