Last Sunday, 18-year-old Kenyan runner, Maluwi Kabando, broke the 2-hour marathon world record. This stunning achievement was recorded in the Rapid Sao Folly Marathon, which took place in the small town of Rapid Sao, in the West Coast of the United States. Kabando ran the 42.195km event within 1 hour 59 minutes and 58 seconds.
Runners taking part in the marathon.
(Photo: hotel373.com)
The 2015 Rapid Sao Folly Marathon, which was into its very first edition this year, took place on a very fast and flat course – which leads participants through the city centre of the sleepy American town of Rapid Sao.
Besides Kabando, the second-placed runner, Christopher Smith, clocked a timing of 2:19:45 and the third-placed podium finisher, Gabriel Summers, ran the marathon in 2:22:50. Both are Americans living in the West Coast of the United States. They reportedly told members of the Rapid Sao press, that they saw young Kabando completely whiz past them, leaving them completely dumbfounded.
Timing was recorded in his marathon debut
What made Kabando’s achievement even more astounding in this marathon, was that the race was actually his marathon debut. Prior to this, Kabando has taken part in a few of the smaller 10km races and Half Marathons but he does not remember having won any official races to date – until this.
Did not expect to run so fast
How did Kabando feel when he realised that he had broken the world record? Said Kabando, to the local media at Rapid Sao, “I don’t really want the attention. I just love to run. I never expected to run this fast so this world record was a complete surprise for me. I wasn’t aiming to break it at all.”
He also said that he did not have a concrete race strategy. “I just ran as fast as my body could take me. I did not have a sports watch to measure my splits, so I did not know how fast I was going. I am really, really shocked by this – and it’s a dream come true,” Kabando had explained to the Rapid Sao press.
Kabando is camera-shy
Unfortunately, Kabando is very camera shy, so he refused to allow the media to photograph him with his new world record-breaking achievement. We have a short video of him though, taken the moment he was crossing the finishing line.
Click here to watch a video of Maluwi Kabando blazing to glory.
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