Israel Saria
World half marathon record holder, Samuel Wanjiru, who won the men’s race at the lucrative Zayed International Marathon in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, has decided to buy his mother a tractor.
The Japan based athlete who won $300,000 (Sh21.3m) after clocking 1:00.33 for victory told reporters, “I want to get my mother a tractor. My mum (Hanna Wanjiru) has a 5-acre maize field and now she can employ a driver and relax a bit.”
“I owe it to my mother, who is a single parent and I hope I can make her happy and comfortable,” said Wanjiru, whose mum and 18-year-old brother are based in Nyahururu.
“My brother Simon is also a long distance runner and hopefully he can also graduate into a good athlete,” added the Half Marathon record holder.
“I will definitely come back next year to take part in this event. It was a good race but the heat and humidity was a bit on the higher side,” Wanjiru said.
“I was running today at my own pace. Maybe I will go for the record next time.”
Wanjiru said he would now train for the London Marathon and then for the Beijing Olympics.
He is set to return home to train for the April event.
“It is very cold in Japan now so I will be training in Kenya,” he explained. Former world record holder, Paul Tergat, did not feature among top finishers.
This is Wanjiru’s second win in the UAE and he had earlier finished first in the RAK Marathon two seasons ago. World Cross Country and Road Running champion, Lornah Kiplagat won the women’s event in 1:08.52,
Kiplagat, a Kenyan born Dutch national, also pocketed similar prize money to Wanjiru.
Ethiopian Debela Barhane (1:11.23) came in second to pocket Sh7.1m with compatriot Gete Wami finishing third in 1:11.30. A total of 16,000 runners took part.
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