It was an exciting weekend for Kenya as Kenyan athletes, Evans Chebet and Sharon Lokedi won the New York City Marathon men’s race and the women’s race Sunday 6th of November, in their debuts respectively.
Chebet — who also won the Boston Marathon in April — patiently waited to overtake Brazilian front-runner Daniel Do Nascimento who got out to a fast start and led by nearly 2 minutes for most of the race.
The Brazilian collapsed at Mile 21, right before he got back into Manhattan, and was attended to by medical professionals. The 33-year-old looked in total control over the closing stages, holding off the challenge of Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata comfortably to win in a time of 2hr 08min 41sec.
Meanwhile, Sharon Lokedi who wasn’t very popular prior to the competition clinched the ultimate prize in the women’s event. She crossed the finishing line in 2 hours 23 minutes 23 seconds to win the gold medal.
Though a debutante, the 28 year old Lokedi who didn’t receive much attention from the media compared to her competitors was confident and fearless from start to end of the race.
Chebet’s win means Kenyan runners have won all six of this year’s major marathon. This is indeed a historical moment.
The 2022 New York Marathon is the first time the race has been held at full capacity since 2019, with an estimated 50,000 runners taking part. The race was scrapped in 2020 due to the pandemic and downsized significantly in 2021.
