Ruth Chepngetich, on Thursday, won the Dubai Marathon with a record-breaking time of 2 hours, 17 minutes, and 07 seconds ending the dominance of Ethiopian athletes.
Chepngetich finished before Ethiopians Worknesh Debele and Worknesh Gurmesa, the second and third in times 2:17:40 and 2:21:00 respectively.
The record time makes her the third fastest woman in the history of the marathon after Briton Paula Radcliffe (2:15:25) and Kenya's Mary Keitany (2:17:01).
She will receive a cash reward of $100,000 (Ksh10 million) for her achievement of the course record.
What is more is that Chepngetich will be remembered as the first Kenyan woman to win the race since 2006 when it was won by Delilah Asiago.
The Nation quoted the athlete indicating before the race, “I have only heard of the Dubai Marathon but it’s my first time here… I am looking forward to a fast timing and good result."
Another issue that makes the story of the athlete more interesting is the fact that she did not train under a regular coach.
She highlighted, "I didn’t have a coach. It was basically my friends from whom I learnt a lot on the art of running… I liked running, running and running. It came naturally to me. I trained because I loved running."
The men’s race at the same event was, however, won by Ethiopian Getaneh Molla who was closely followed by a fellow citizen.
The race ended up as a two-horse race in its closing stages between the Ethiopians.
Molla also won with a new course record of 2:03:34 with Herpassa Negasa following him closely and finishing in 2:03:41.
