Defending champion Daniel Kiptum from Nandi County retained the title at the sixth edition of the Deaf Half Marathon held yesterday in Kericho.
The 2017 Deaflympic Games champion in Turkey, finished first in an impressive time of 1:11.16, edging out Lucas Wandia who came in second in of 1:11.58 and David Njeru, who completed the podium in 1:12.00.
“I am happy to have defended my title successfully in today’s half marathon. Having elite athletes in the race made the competition very stiff. I will continue training hard ahead of the 1st Africa Deaf Athletics Championships which will be held in Kasarani in September,” said Daniel Kiptum.
In the women’s 21km category, Juster Moraa Kwamesa successfully retained her title, cutting the tape in 1:42.01. Priscah Naibin was second in 1:42.09 with Rebeca Matiko third in 1:55.5.
The annual event also included the 10km races, where Geoffrey Kamia won in the men’s race in 36:00 minutes followed closely by Gilbert Kirui (36:02) and Dennis Kiprop (37:00). Kakamega’s Jentrix Dindi won in the women’s 10km in 47:46 with Mercy Moraa and Viola Jelimo coming in second and third 47:50 and 48:18 respectively.
The event saw the winners in the half marathon walk away with Sh100,000, Sh50,000 and Sh30,000 respectively. The first three winners in the 10km received Sh50,000, Sh40,000 and Sh30,000 respectively in cash prizes. Besides the cash prizes, the winners also got a direct qualification to the 1st African Deaf Championship scheduled to be held in Nairobi.
“We have had a good event today and we congratulate the winners. The event is of great significance in our calendar because it helps us gauge our athletes before the season begins. Those who finished in the top three in both 21km and 10km have automatically qualified for the 1st Africa Deaf Athletics Championships which will be held at Kasarani later this year,” said Deaf Athletics Association of Kenya (DAAK) secretary general, Bernard Banja. Safaricom sponsored the race to a tune of Sh2.5 million.
