The record breaking superstars
In a year that saw the sporting calendar turned on its head, there was no stopping record breakers Peres Jepchirchir and Kibiwott Kandie.
Jepchirchir obliterated two world records and a course record in the space of three months.
Jepchirchir won the Prague Half Marathon race in September with a world record time of 1:05:34, before lowering that time to 1:05:16 during the World Half Marathon Championships in October.
Jepchirchir’s icing on the cake was winning the Valencia Marathon at the start of December, her last race of the year.
The 28-year-old won the race in a course record time and personal best of 2:17:16.
It was also a fantastic year for world half marathon silver medallist Kibiwott who became the new world half marathon record holder.
Kandie lowered the record by 29 seconds to win the Valencia Half Marathon in 57:32.
It was sweet revenge by the 24-year-old Kandie against Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo who beat him at the World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland, on October 17.
The previous world record of 58:01 was held by Geoffrey Kamworor set at Copenhagen Half Marathon on September 15 last year.
Kandie’s achievement saw him pocket a total of Sh18.09 million - Sh 4.69million for winning and a bonus of Sh 13.4 million for breaking the world record.
The record-breaking run by Kandie was his fourth half marathon of the year, astoundingly having run all of them in under an hour.
In September he won the Prague Half Marathon in a time of 58:38.
Kandie staged a good run early in the year, winning the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in February with a world-leading time of 58:58, six days after his triumph at the fiercely competitive Kenya’s National Cross Country Championships.
With the Olympics set for August 2021, Jepchirchir and Kandie will be hoping to take their stellar form to the Asian country.
