KENYA'S PLAYGROUND: Couple, siblings make history with a cocktail of family bonds at US race

Paul Lonyangata, of Kenya, finishes in fourth place at the Chicago Marathon in Chicago, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016.

The 39th Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday ended with fairy tales of sorts for two of Kenya’s households.

Incidentally, it also set some monumental records for the global athletics statisticians, with a set of siblings and a couple penning their names in the annals of Chicago Marathon.

Siblings Gideon Kipketer and Valentine Kipketer once again inked their names on the growing list of Kenya’s athletics families as they ascended the podium in America’s fastest marathon race.

Gideon (2:12.20) and Valentine (2:23.41), who come from Kapkitony in Keiyo South, finished third in men’s and women’s races respectively.

Gideon Kipketer, of Kenya, finishesin third place at the Chicago Marathon, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016, in Chicago.

Interestingly, Gideon and Valentine have both won Mumbai Marathon. Valentine, who is the immediate younger sibling, won the race in 2013 while Gideon won the race early this year.

They have also competed in Dutch’s flagship 42km race, the Amsterdam Marathon, where Gideon posted 2:08.14 in 2012 before Valentine won in 2:23.02 in 2013.

The two are managed by Dutchman Jos Hermens, a former track world record holder, who runs the Global Sports Communications based in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

And coincidentally, Gideon and Valentine have their 21km personal bests at 59.53 and 68.21 respectively set in Lille half marathon in France.

The two come from the same village with Florence Kiplagat, who successfully defended her Chicago Marathon title in 2:21.32.

And the three – Valentine, Gideon and Florence – were inspired to take up athletics by William Kiplagat, the uncle of Florence and a former Berlin Marathon winner.

That’s not enough, however. The Chicago Marathon fiesta elicited another exciting tale worth remembering for world’s athletics enthusiasts.

The script was similar to that of Florence Kiplagat and Moses Mosop, who were then husband and wife, when they lined up in Boston Marathon in 2011.

So were Paul Lonyangata and Purity Cherotich Rionoripo, another running couple who finished fourth at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.

Lonyangata finished in 2:13.17 while Rionoripo posted 2:2:24.47 to claim a share of the Bank of America pay cheque. The two train in Iten and come from Kaptabuk in West Pokot County.

Lonyangata and Rionoripo train under Italian agent Federico Rosa and both competed at the 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada, where Lonyangata won bronze in 10,000m while Rionoripo was a finalist in 5,000m.

David Letting, one of the national marathon coaches, said guiding couples and siblings is exciting.

“It’s an easy task handling couples and siblings as they motivate and inspire each other during the training sessions. For couples, they don’t embrace suspicions of infidelity as most others do. They are always together,” said Letting.

“First, I liked how the Chicago Marathon race went. It was hot and the athletes had to employ a psychological battle. If they opted to run fast times, they would not have finished the race.

It remains to be seen if the Kipketer siblings, Lonyangata and Rionoripo, will keep their running flame alive to the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships set for London from August 4 to 13.