Nandi County’s Emmanuel Bor and Nakuru’s Everline Chirchir are the 2019 Safaricom Series Kisumu City 10km Road race champions.
Bor, fresh from winning the Safaricom South Imenti 15km Road race, clocked 28 minutes and 32 seconds on a tough course under hot and humid conditions to win the 13th edition of the Safaricom sponsored race.
His Nandi counterparts Josephat Chepchirchir and Bethwel Kipkemboi followed in second and third positions after timing 28:53.30 and 29:01.50 respectively.
Bor, who trains in Kapsabet, attributed his victory to his “resilience” and hard work, saying winning the Imenti Road race last week motivated him to do more.
“This has been a very fruitful year for me especially after claiming the 10km race in Shanghai, China, winning 15km in Imenti and now claiming the Kisumu 10km race. All these are fruits from my hard work and consistent training,” he said.
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“Today was a bit better as last weekend’s hilly terrain enabled me prepare for this race. The flat grounds in Kisumu made it easier to win. I now want to focus on next year’s Olympics.”
In the women’s race, 21-year-old Everline Chirchir from Nakuru clocked 32:30.10 to claim her maiden win as Irine Kimathisi from Baringo and Judith Jepngetich finished second and third in a time of 32:53.20 and 33:19.40 respectively.
Purity Akoth from Kisumu finished as the best local runner with a time of 41:33:10 as Siaya-based Lucas Abuoro and Margrate Akinyi won the men and women’s veterans category respectively.
In 8km under-18 boy’s Vincent Odhiambo of Siaya County beat a field of 13 athletes to emerge top after clocking 27:37:50 as Evans Omondi and Victor Otieno from Kisumu finished second and third respectively.
Siaya’s Brandy Adhiambo clocked 24:42:30 to win in the girl’s under-18 6km category.
She was followed by Selpha Munara from Busia and Nandi’s Winnie Chepkerui in second and third places.
Kapsabets’s Naomi Chesang took gold in the 2km girl’s category as Byron Otieno won the boys category.
Winners went home with a cash prize of Sh100, 000 while the first and second runners-up in both categories pocketed Sh50, 000 and Sh25,000 respectively.
