{"id":2367,"date":"2014-12-07T05:01:17","date_gmt":"2014-12-07T11:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/?p=2367"},"modified":"2014-12-07T05:01:17","modified_gmt":"2014-12-07T11:01:17","slug":"kenneth-mungara-wins-singapore-marathon-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/news\/kenneth-mungara-wins-singapore-marathon-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenneth Mungara wins Singapore Marathon 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kenneth<\/a><\/p>\n

The dream life of Kenneth Mungara continues, with another marathon victory, this time in the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore, Sunday morning. It was already unlikely that the 42 year old Kenyan would ever have to work behind a barber\u2019s chair again. But another $50,000 prize ensures that; unless of course, he wants to open a chain, and show the youngsters how to do it.<\/p>\n

Singapore Marathon, Sunday, December 7, 2014, 05.00gmt<\/h3>\n

That was pretty much the scenario on Sunday morning. Running against men up to 20 years younger, Mungara stayed with the group of a dozen East Africans for just 10 kilometres, before striking out by himself, and building up an unassailable lead, which had stretched to two and half minutes at the finish.<\/p>\n

The expected hot and humid conditions that prevail in Singapore almost all year round inevitably kept the times slow, and although he said that he had set out at the 5am start (already 28C) with a will to break the course record of 2.11.25, set by compatriot Luke Kibet six years ago, Mungara came home in 2.16.42, with colleagues David Tarus and Charles Kanyao following in 2.19.07 and 2.19.18 respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI targeted the course record,\u201d he said immediately afterwards. \u201cBut there was no one to help me. I was hoping someone would come along and push me. I\u2019m still happy, but not very happy. It was very hot, but there was no problem. Next time I hope we can get four or five guys together. Next time, I would do better. It\u2019s my last race of the year, so now I can go home to celebrate, and enjoy Christmas\u201d.<\/p>\n

It was Mungara\u2019s second victory in Singapore, four years after his first; but so successful has been his latterday career, that the native of Limuru, some 50 kilometres north-west of the capital, Nairobi, has now won nine of his 15 marathons since 2007, with three second places and a third, and boasts a best of 2.07.36 from Prague three years ago.<\/p>\n

Mungara was only enticed into running in his mid-30s, by the young marathoners who would come to his salon for a shave. \u201cI looked at those little guys, and thought, I can beat them. But they were really tough, so I couldn\u2019t at first. I couldn\u2019t even train with them. I trained by myself, and after a while I went to a half-marathon, but I had to drop out. But I saw my mistakes, and I learned\u201d.<\/p>\n

Waganesh Amare didn\u2019t have time to make any mistakes in the women\u2019s race. The young Ethiopian was only enlisted for the race at the last moment, as a replacement. Underlining a theory that you come down from altitude either several days or none before a race, Waganesh only turned up the night before, barely slept, due to the 5am start, then coped with everything the well-matched field threw at her, before running away from her last rivals after 39 kilometres. She quickly did she accelerate over the final three kilometres that she won by close to a minute, in 2.46.54, with Kenyans Elizabeth Chemweno and Pauline Wanganui second and third respectively, in 2.47.50 and 2.4859. \u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting it be this hot,\u201d said Waganesh, via top-class interpreter, Haile Gebrselassie, \u201cso that\u2019s why I waited so late to make a move to win\u201d.<\/p>\n

As for Geb himself, he simply wasn\u2019t expecting the competition to be so hot. He had spent the majority of the two previous days, fulfilling speaking and coaching engagements, and thought he might get an easy ride in the 10 kilometres. But Solomon Keter had other ideas. Fresh from a personal best of 29.04, for a Hong Kong all-comers record one week earlier, and fully acclimatised to the region, Keter ran away from his Kenyan colleague, Thomas Maritim, and Gebrselassie in the final stages of the race, at which point temperatures had topped 30C (86F).<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the worst humidity I\u2019ve ever experienced\u201d said Gebrselassie. \u201cI came here to enjoy myself, I wasn\u2019t prepared. I didn\u2019t expect the Kenyans. Next year, I\u2019ll come just to run, and I\u2019ll be prepared\u201d.<\/p>\n

MARATHON RESULTS<\/p>\n

MEN<\/p>\n

1 Kenneth MUNGARA\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 2:16:42
\n2 David TARUS\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 2:19:07
\n3 Charles KANYAO\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 2:19:18
\n4 Henry CHIRCHIR\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN 2:19:58
\n5 Paul MATHEKA\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 2:20:38
\n6 Laban MOIBEN\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 2:21:30
\n7 Mike MUTAI\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 2:23:19
\n8 Dereje WOLDEGIYORGIS\u00a0 ETH\u00a0 2:24:12
\n9 Samwel KIPNGETICH\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 2:26:55
\n10 Kennedy KIPROO LILAN KEN\u00a0 2:27:25<\/p>\n

WOMEN<\/p>\n

1 Waganesh AMARE\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ETH 2:46:54
\n2 Elizabeth CHEMWENO\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 2:47:50
\n3 Pauline WANGUI\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 2:48:59
\n4 Albina MAYOROVA\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RUS\u00a0 2:49:26
\n5 Ayelu LEMMA\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ETH\u00a0 2:49:52
\n6 Jane\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J KIPTOO\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 2:51:48
\n7 Margaret NJUGUNA\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 2:57:55
\n8 Jane KARIUKI\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 3:01:28
\n9 Lamahewage ANUSHA\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 SRI\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3:10:00
\n10 Kumarasinghe MANJULA SRI\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3:11:03<\/p>\n

10K MEN<\/p>\n

1 Solomon KETER\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 29:47
\n2 Thomas MARITIM\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 29:53
\n3 Haile GEBRSELASSIE\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ETH\u00a0 30:00
\n4 James MAREGU\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 30:27
\n5 Charles NJOKI\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KEN\u00a0 31:40<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The dream life of Kenneth Mungara continues, with another marathon victory, this time in the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore, Sunday morning. It was already unlikely that the 42 year old Kenyan would ever have to work behind a barber\u2019s chair again. But another $50,000 prize ensures that; unless of course, he wants to open a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,17,18,29,1,51],"tags":[516],"class_list":["post-2367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-events","category-featured","category-kenya","category-news","category-singapore","tag-kenneth-mungara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}