Henry Kiplagat Defeats Makau In Prague
- By Duncan Larkin
- Published Sep. 11, 2012
- Updated Sep. 11, 2012 at 9:00 AM UTC
Up until Sunday, he had been dealing with numerous second-place finishes.
Victory finally came for Kenya’s Henry Kiplagat. The young runner prevailed in the Mattoni Prague Grand Prix in Prague. In that race, a 10K on the roads, he defeated marathon world-record holder Patrick Makau. His finishing time was 27:51.
“A great race, I enjoyed it”, said Kiplagat. “I had no strategy, I just ran, ran fast and this is how it turned out. Finally I was alone in the front”.
Makau finished a disappointing tenth.
“I felt tired and also the cobblestones were not good for me. I was careful at every step, I didn’t want to get injured,” he recalled. “However, it was very good speed training for the Frankfurt Marathon in October. And the atmosphere? Was unique.”
The women’s race was 5K with Tadelech Bekele of Ethiopia prevailing in 15:48.
“Although I usually run longer races, I am happy that I was able to do it, even though I wasn’t the favourite to win,” she admitted.
For More: IAAF
FILED UNDER: News
Duncan Larkin
Duncan Larkin is the news editor at Competitor.com and a freelance journalist who’s been covering the sport of running for over five years. He’s run 2:32 in the marathon and won the Himalayan 100-Mile Stage Race in 2007. His first running book, RUN SIMPLE, was released last July.