Kenyans dominate Vancouver Marathon

Vancouver, May 6 (IANS): Kenyan runners made a clean sweep of the Vancouver Marathon as Thomas Omwenga won the men’s title for the fourth time while Lucy Njeri took the women’s race.

With sunny conditions and the temperature hovering around 17 degrees Celsius Sunday, Paul Kimugul added to the Kenyan dominance in capturing the half marathon in a record time of one hour four minutes and 18 seconds, shaving 30 seconds off the previous best posted by countryman Kip Kangogo last year. Vancouver’s Natasha Fraser took the women’s half marathon in 1:15:19.

The 33-year-old Omwenga (2:24:08) broke free from fellow Kenyan Benard Onsare (2:24:10) two kilometres from finish and sprinted home to claim the $3,474 first prize. Defending champion Gezahgn Eshetu of Ethiopia finished a distant third in 2:25:23.

Omwenga, winner of the Vancouver Marathon in 2007, 2008 and 2010, credited his training partner Onsare for pushing him to victory.

Canada’s largest marathon through the streets of Vancouver and attracts around 16,000 participants, including 4,965 runners for the 42.1-kilometre main race.