Tuesday, 06 October 2009
Focus on Athletes - Mary Jepkosgei KEITANY
Mary Jepkosgei Keitany of Kenya in action (Getty Images)
Updated October 6, 2009
Mary Jepkosgei KEITANY, Kenya (10,000m, Half Marathon)
Born 18 January 1982
Place of birth: Kisok Village, Kabarnet, Baringo District, Rift Valley Province
Marital Status: Married with child
Manager: Gianni Demadonna
Camp: Adidas camp in Iten
Mary Jepkosgei Keitany will be hoping to go one better in this year’s World Half Marathon Championships after a stunning run that saw her win silver at the 2007 edition in Udine, Italy.
The genial and shy lady is also making a comeback after taking a year out to attend to maternal duties having married fellow athlete Charles Koech at the back end of her memorable year. Their son, Jared Kipchumba was welcomed to the world on June 22, 2008.
Not that you would tell going by her tremendous performances this season that have seen her ranked the top woman in half marathon running.
Her time of 1:07:00 is the fastest this year making her one of the favourites in the English city especially after withdrawals of three-time champions, Britain’s Paula Radcliffe and Lornah Kiplagat, the Kenyan born Dutch runner who had won the three previous editions.
With four career Half Marathon wins, she is certainly a burgeoning talent in road running and seems destined for greater things.
Many up and coming athletes give credit to the stalwarts, like Catherine Ndereba, Susan Chepkemei and Tegla Loroupe, and Jepkosgei is no exception. “People were always praising people like Ndereba and Chepkemei and it made me want to do something similar,” she said.
Born in Kisok village, Jepkosgei Keitany went to Kanjulul and Kisok Primary schools. During that period, she used to take part in school competitions for fun, reaching district level at 5000m. She took her athletics a notch higher in 2002 when she joined Hidden Talent Academy for her secondary school education, specialising in 1500 and 5000m.
Jepkosgei Keitany went all the way to national level in 2003 at 5000m and she repeated the feat in 2004, running in the national 5000m finals at Kasarani. Another national finals appearance marked her final year and, in January 2006, Jepkosgei Keitany travelled all the way to Iten to join a group of athletes training in the area. “I knew I had a talent so I thought I should go somewhere where I can develop and improve it,” she said.
Running a cross country at Chepkoilel in Eldoret in November 2006, she won easily. “It was good to see that my training was bearing fruit,” she said. She impressed the agent and, a few weeks later, she was on her way to Europe for her first outing outside the country, winning
the San Silvestre Olivais 10k in Lisbon on December 30, clocking 33:06.
She started 2007 with a 5k cross country race in Le Mans in January where she finished fourth. Two weeks later, Jepkosgei Keitany lined up in Almeria Half Marathon where she edged out Joan Aiyabei to win in 1:13:02.
In April, she continued her good Half Marathon form, winning the Ivry-Vitry Humarathon, her second win over the distance. Three weeks later, she got a chance to rub shoulders with the crème de la crème of road running when she paced London Marathon. “It was great to run in London and I ran with the leaders until the 26k mark when I dropped out as my work was done,” she said.
Barely six days later, Jepkosgei Keitany was back in France for the Heillecourt 4.7k race but the two races in the month had taken their toll and she finished a disappointing sixth in 14:22. However, two days further on, she roared back to form when she won the Puy-en-Velay 15k race (50:10)
Then, in September, she won her third Half Marathon when she clinched Lille Half Marathon in 1:08:43. After that, she returned home and, when she was picked for Udine; she upped her training at her Iten base.
Of Udine and beyond, she said: “I want to win but even if I get a podium finish I will be fine. I want to continue my development and hopefully get to run in marathons in the near future.”
She lived up to her promise in the Italian City in October running the race of her life to win silver in a new personal best of 1:06.48behind Kiplagat who won the world crown.
Jepkosgei would however not build on her 2007 results in 2008 as she took a break to attend to maternal matters.
She was however back with a bang in 2009 starting with 10k race in Bangalore in May where she finished second in a personal best time of 32:09. Then in September she clocked 1:07:00 to win the Lille Métropole Half Marathon, making her the fastest at the distance in 2009.
This performance saw her selected to represent Kenya in Birmingham, where she hopes to improve on her silver medal from two years ago. “I’m going there to get gold although I’m aware there will be stiff competition especially from my team mates but I’m ready for them,” she outlined.
Personal Bests
10,000m: 32:18.07 (2007)
10K: 31:10 (2007)
Half Marathon: 1:06.48 (2007)
Yearly Progression
Half Marathon: 2007 - 1:06.48, 2008 - , 2009 - 1:07:00
Career Highlights
2007 1st Almeria Half Marathon
2007 1st Ivry-Vitry Humarathon Half Marathon
2007 1st Puy-en-Velay (France) 15k
2007 1st Lille Half Marathon
2007 2nd World Half Marathon Championships (Udine)
Prepared by James Wokabi and Mutwiri Mutuota for the IAAF ‘Focus on Athletes’ project. Copyright IAAF 2007-09
Mary Jepkosgei KEITANY, Kenya (10,000m, Half Marathon)
Born 18 January 1982
Place of birth: Kisok Village, Kabarnet, Baringo District, Rift Valley Province
Marital Status: Married with child
Manager: Gianni Demadonna
Camp: Adidas camp in Iten
Mary Jepkosgei Keitany will be hoping to go one better in this year’s World Half Marathon Championships after a stunning run that saw her win silver at the 2007 edition in Udine, Italy.
The genial and shy lady is also making a comeback after taking a year out to attend to maternal duties having married fellow athlete Charles Koech at the back end of her memorable year. Their son, Jared Kipchumba was welcomed to the world on June 22, 2008.
Not that you would tell going by her tremendous performances this season that have seen her ranked the top woman in half marathon running.
Her time of 1:07:00 is the fastest this year making her one of the favourites in the English city especially after withdrawals of three-time champions, Britain’s Paula Radcliffe and Lornah Kiplagat, the Kenyan born Dutch runner who had won the three previous editions.
With four career Half Marathon wins, she is certainly a burgeoning talent in road running and seems destined for greater things.
Many up and coming athletes give credit to the stalwarts, like Catherine Ndereba, Susan Chepkemei and Tegla Loroupe, and Jepkosgei is no exception. “People were always praising people like Ndereba and Chepkemei and it made me want to do something similar,” she said.
Born in Kisok village, Jepkosgei Keitany went to Kanjulul and Kisok Primary schools. During that period, she used to take part in school competitions for fun, reaching district level at 5000m. She took her athletics a notch higher in 2002 when she joined Hidden Talent Academy for her secondary school education, specialising in 1500 and 5000m.
Jepkosgei Keitany went all the way to national level in 2003 at 5000m and she repeated the feat in 2004, running in the national 5000m finals at Kasarani. Another national finals appearance marked her final year and, in January 2006, Jepkosgei Keitany travelled all the way to Iten to join a group of athletes training in the area. “I knew I had a talent so I thought I should go somewhere where I can develop and improve it,” she said.
Running a cross country at Chepkoilel in Eldoret in November 2006, she won easily. “It was good to see that my training was bearing fruit,” she said. She impressed the agent and, a few weeks later, she was on her way to Europe for her first outing outside the country, winning
the San Silvestre Olivais 10k in Lisbon on December 30, clocking 33:06.
She started 2007 with a 5k cross country race in Le Mans in January where she finished fourth. Two weeks later, Jepkosgei Keitany lined up in Almeria Half Marathon where she edged out Joan Aiyabei to win in 1:13:02.
In April, she continued her good Half Marathon form, winning the Ivry-Vitry Humarathon, her second win over the distance. Three weeks later, she got a chance to rub shoulders with the crème de la crème of road running when she paced London Marathon. “It was great to run in London and I ran with the leaders until the 26k mark when I dropped out as my work was done,” she said.
Barely six days later, Jepkosgei Keitany was back in France for the Heillecourt 4.7k race but the two races in the month had taken their toll and she finished a disappointing sixth in 14:22. However, two days further on, she roared back to form when she won the Puy-en-Velay 15k race (50:10)
Then, in September, she won her third Half Marathon when she clinched Lille Half Marathon in 1:08:43. After that, she returned home and, when she was picked for Udine; she upped her training at her Iten base.
Of Udine and beyond, she said: “I want to win but even if I get a podium finish I will be fine. I want to continue my development and hopefully get to run in marathons in the near future.”
She lived up to her promise in the Italian City in October running the race of her life to win silver in a new personal best of 1:06.48behind Kiplagat who won the world crown.
Jepkosgei would however not build on her 2007 results in 2008 as she took a break to attend to maternal matters.
She was however back with a bang in 2009 starting with 10k race in Bangalore in May where she finished second in a personal best time of 32:09. Then in September she clocked 1:07:00 to win the Lille Métropole Half Marathon, making her the fastest at the distance in 2009.
This performance saw her selected to represent Kenya in Birmingham, where she hopes to improve on her silver medal from two years ago. “I’m going there to get gold although I’m aware there will be stiff competition especially from my team mates but I’m ready for them,” she outlined.
Personal Bests
10,000m: 32:18.07 (2007)
10K: 31:10 (2007)
Half Marathon: 1:06.48 (2007)
Yearly Progression
Half Marathon: 2007 - 1:06.48, 2008 - , 2009 - 1:07:00
Career Highlights
2007 1st Almeria Half Marathon
2007 1st Ivry-Vitry Humarathon Half Marathon
2007 1st Puy-en-Velay (France) 15k
2007 1st Lille Half Marathon
2007 2nd World Half Marathon Championships (Udine)
Prepared by James Wokabi and Mutwiri Mutuota for the IAAF ‘Focus on Athletes’ project. Copyright IAAF 2007-09