Patrick Makau, the Kenyan world record holder in the marathon and the main star of Saturday’s Mattoni Prague Grand Prix, has a full day of social events behind him.
AIMS award
In the morning, he visited Ústí nad Labem, the location of the last of this year’s races in the RunCzech.com running circuit (Volkswagen Ústí Half marathon – September 16). He met with the mayor, Vít Mandík, and then took part in a discussion with students of athletic schools, from grades eight and nine. “You are young runners at the most important age. The main thing is to run hard together”, he advised them. “I am prepared to help you anytime and give you advice”, he offered.
When asked when he started running, he answered with a smile: “Where I live, life is difficult; you have to move around a lot. You have to go far for water as well as to the shop for groceries or to school. And so, we run there.”
In the afternoon, he appeared at the Prague Mayor’s residence on Mariánský Square in Prague, where he received the AIMS (Association of International Marathons and Distance Races) World’s Fastest Time Award for his excellent record of 2:03:38 from last year’s marathon in Berlin.
Makau broke the world record by 21 seconds last year on September 25th, beating the former record holder, Haile Gebrsellasie in the process. The record was officially accepted and confirmed by the International Association of Athletic Federations, the IAAF, and AIMS. Makau became the eighteenth holder of the trophy. One year ago he received the AIMS Athlete of the Year Award.
Makau received the Award from the Prague deputy, Jiří Nouza, a member of the AIMS Board of Directors, Bruno Boukobza from France and Carlo Capalbo, President of the organizing committee of Saturday’s Mattoni Prague Grand Prix, where Makau will run the Metro 10K Race.
“I am very happy that I got onto such a prestigious list and that I will get the award in a country where I have so many friends and I feel so at home. I believe that such great races will continue to be organized here,” said Makau with a grateful yet shy smile.
“Patrick is an excellent athlete and we are pleased to give him this award,” noted Paco Borao, AIMS President. “It is my great honor to give this award in Prague, at the event of our Mattoni Grand Prix race. After all, AIMS represents more than 330 long distance races in 96 countries around the world” declared Carlo Capalbo.
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