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It turned out to be a great result at Rotterdam for the other Sammy, not Wanjiru, but Kitwara! Kitwara simply blew the field to record a win in 58:58, the 4th fastest time at the Half Marathon at Rotterdam, setting a course record in the process, and becoming the sixth man ever to dip below the magical mark of 59 seconds. The previous record was 59:12 by Evans Kiprop Cheruiyot.
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Kitwara continued his recent form in Netherlands from March, when he won the City-Pier-City Half Marathon at The Hague, beating former record holder Haile Gebrselassie to second place. It was also a day when all the top six finishers clocked their personal bests, and the Kenyan contingent really ruled with all top-10 finishers from Kenya, something which I think must be really a rare occurrence in spite of the dominance of Kenyan runners.
The second and third places went to Jonathan Maiyo and James Kwambai in a neck to neck finish, 10 seconds behind Kitwara. So, what happened to the story about the Wanjiry/Kitwara showdown, well, it actually fizzled off before it could start. Wanjiru was already gone from the lead group by the time they hit the 8 KM mark (and were there running at a blazing pace, 5K done in 13:37, 5 seconds faster than at Wanjiru’s world record run of 58:33!), and whether it was his fitness, or the focus on the reported world record attempt at the upcoming Chicago marathon, Wanjiru was simply not there on this day. He eventually finished 9th in 1:01:08.
Incidentally, Kitwara is yet to run a marathon distance, choosing to keep his focus to the shorter half marathon distance for the time being. To find more on Kitwara’s meteoric rise and bio, check out letsrun.com.
Rotterdam Half Marathon 2009 Championchip results
Results:
Men:
- Sammy Kitwara, KEN 58:58 PB
- Jonathan Maiyo, KEN 59:08 PB
- James Kwambai, KEN 59:09 PB
- Bernard Kipyego, KEN 59:10 PB
- Wilson Chebet, KEN 59:15 PB
- John Kiprotich, KEN 59:23 PB
- Robert Kipchumba, KEN 59:32
- Charles Munyeki, KEN 1:00:18
- Samuel Wanjiru, KEN 1:01:08
- Elijah Keitany, KEN 1:01:14
- Abiyote Guta, ETH 1:01:21 PB
- Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, KEN 1:01:22 PB
- Jacob Kiplagat Yator, KEN 1:01:56
- Gilbert Yegon, KEN 1:02:00
- Nicholas ManzaKamakya, KEN 1:02:10
- Koen Raymaekers, NED 1:05:22
- Ruben Scheurwater, NED 1:05:58
- Robert Ton, NED 1:06:03
- Ronald Schro, NED 1:08:00
Women:
- Merel de Knegt, NED 1:14:31
- Jolanda Verstraten, NED 1:17:50
- Marlies Overbeke, NED 1:20:48
- Nadja Wijenberg, NED 1:21:00 (40+)
Source: IAAF
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