Teenage athlete Chemonges wins marathon in Germany

Victor’s pose. Chemonges, 19, crossing the finish line in Dusseldorf yesterday. He set a new personal best enroute to winning the marathon in a time of two hours, 10 minutes and 32 seconds. This was Chemonges’ third marathon since winning his debut at the Green Europe Marathon after 2:11:45 in Plazza Unita, Italy last May. COURTESY PHOTO

Kampala.

Robert Chemonges announced his arrival at the table of Uganda’s road race best after winning the Dusseldorf Marathon in Germany yesterday.
Chemonges unmasked the talent in his spikes when he won the 42km race on the banks of River Rhine in a time of two hours, 10 minutes and 32 seconds.
That finish on the sunny morning was the 19-year-old’s new personal best (PB), erasing the previous mark of 2:11:04 set while taking seventh place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, last November.
Chemonges also earned a ticket to the World Championships due August 4-13 in London after beating the qualification standard of 2:19:00 despite the fact that Dusseldorf is ranked as with a Bronze Label by IAAF.
“The big positive is, he runs every marathon a little quicker,” Chemonges’ manager Jurrie van der Velden told Daily Monitor yesterday. Early this year, Chemonges joined Dutchman Jurrie’s company Global Sports Communication which manages the world’s top long-distance runners like Stephen Kiprotich, Kenenisa Bekele and women’s 10000m world record holder Almaz Ayana.
“There is a lot of room for improvement and he is aware and accepts that. He needs a couple of marathons to hit his best.” added Jurrie who also manages Mumbai Marathon course record holder Jackson Kiprop and 2014 Commonwealth bronze medalist Abraham Kiplimo.
Chemonges’ new PB is a quick surge up in the ranks of Uganda’s best marathoners as he is close to running under 2:10:00. Already, he ranks above Phillip Kiplimo, Moses Kipsiro, Moses Kibet and Alex Chesakit.
The country’s best marathoner Kiprotich - second at Hamburg Marathon eight days ago - has a PB of 2:06:33, This doubles as the national record, set after finishing second at the 2015 Tokyo Marathon.