Rosemary Wanjiru was on Sunday crowned this years’ Tokyo Marathon champion in Japan.
Wanjiru won in a new personal best time of two hours, 16 minutes and 28 seconds ahead of Ethiopians Gamechu Tsehay (2:16:56) and Ashate Bekere (2:19:11) who were in second and third positions respectively.
Despite Wanjiru falling in the initial stages of the race, she managed to break from the leading pack at the 30km mark and increased her pace leading all the way to the finish line.
Wanjiru had earlier indicated that she would be using the race to vie for a place in Kenya’s marathon team for the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August.
Athletics Kenya has been selecting marathon team based on an athlete’s performance in the previous season or the early stages of the new season.
Last year during the Berlin Marathon, Wanjiru ran the second fastest debut in women’s marathon after clocking 2:18:00 to settle second behind Ethiopia’s Tigist Asefa.
In the men’s category, it was a clean sweep for the Ethiopians with the first Kenyan Titus Kipruto finishing fourth in 2:05:32.
Gelmisa Deso and Esa Mohammed both crossed the line in 2:05:22 while Gatecha Kebede came a close third in 2:05:25.
