A Kenyan Triumph At The Seoul Marathon

James Kwambai held off a strong field to win the race.

There were other Kenyans besides Geoffrey and Emmanuel Mutai running well yesterday. At the Seoul Marathon, James Kipsang Kwambai prevailed in 2:08:50. His winning time was 37 seconds shy of the course record. Kwambai defeated last year’s winner, David Kemboi, who came in second with 2:09:21.

It was a Kenyan sweep in the race as six runners from the East African nation finished in the top ten.

Third place went to Tsegaye Yemane from Ethiopia who clocked 2:10:47. The event was an IAAF silver-label race. Over 21,000 runners took part in the event. Organizers attracted a field of 13 top-tier athletes from Kenya, Ethiopia, Morocco, France and Zimbabwe.

After the gun sounded, Chani Hafid,of Morocco took the early lead in the pack of 16.

Conditions for the race were not optimal with rain showers making the streets slippery.

In the women’s race, 30-year-old Kyung Hee Choi of South Korea was victorious. She broke the tape in 2:40:49, which was well off the course record of 2:29:30 set by Korean Eung-Jung Lee.

For More: IAAF