Former Commonwealth Games Marathon champion John Ekiru Kelai wants to hang his running spikes in December this year.
Kelai, popularly known as Pastor in the athletics circles due to his religious devotion, has been competing for the last two decades and he feels the time is up for him to venture into other fields.
“I have been running and competing on the roads for the last two decades and time is up for me to quit active running and concentrate on other matters of life,” he said.
Born and raised in Turkana county, Kelai was the second Kenyan to win the Commonwealth Marathon title in 2010 in New Delhi, India after Douglas Wakiihuri in 1990 in Auckland, New Zealand.
The road running expert has won a number of marathons including the Eindhoven, where he ran 2:09.09 in 2005, and the Singapore Marathon in 2003, where he posted 2:19.12.
“With such accolades in the marathon and other road races, I feel the time is up for me to call it quits since I have achieved much in my career,” said the two-time Mumbai Marathon champion.
Kelai is also a two-time winner of the Enschede Marathon (2005 and 2006) and Toronto Waterfront Marathon champion in 2007 as well as the Brussels Marathon among others.
“God has been good for me and winning gold for Kenya at the Commonwealth Games in India was the height of my running career. Remember, we are only the two of us in the country at the moment to have won the title,” he said.
After retirement, he hopes to focus on nurturing young talent from his Turkana county and the rest of the country.
“Many young people are not privileged to run like I did and that is why I am keen to give them direction and support,” he added.
