Gold Coast Marathon 2018: Kenneth Mungara cements place as race legend with third win

KENNETH Mungara’s love affair with the Gold Coast has continued, with the former Kenyan barber winning the marathon for the third time.

KENNETH Mungara’s love affair with the Gold Coast has continued, with the former Kenyan barber winning the Gold Coast Marathon for the third time to stamp himself as a legend of the race.

For the third year in succession, the race came down to a sprint in the final stages, although Mungara learnt from his agonising second place to Takuya Noguchi last year, and established a break of a few metres on Kenta Murayama leading into the winners’ chute.

Mungara crossed in 2hr 9min 47sec, to notch his fourth consecutive sub 2:10 marathon on the Gold Coast, albeit the slowest he has managed here.

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Gold Coast Marathon. Race winner Kenneth Mungara. Photo by Richard Gosling

Murayama had suffered from vomiting during the race and was disappointed with his finish but the 25-year-old hung on to finish second in 2:09.49, with the fast-finishing Jo Fukada third in 2:09.50 and Noguchi fourth in 2:10.15, the Japanese trio registering times that should help them into qualifying races for the Tokyo Olympics.

Mungara though proved he is still king of the Coast.

Despite a less than pleasant visit in April, when he suffered in the searing heat and humidity during the Commonwealth Games, eventually finishing tenth, Mungara will forever have fond memories of the Gold Coast as the city in which he realised his marathon dreams.

It was not that long ago that the 44-year-old was working in a barbershop in Kenya when he overheard some customers discussing their training regimen and realised he could manage the training loads they were talking about.

Kenneth Mungara gives the thumbs up on his way to winning the Gold Coast Marathon. Photo by Richard Gosling

A marathon career was born that netted Mungara the masters world record with his winning time on the Gold Coast in 2015.

But it was his Commonwealth Games appearance earlier this year that was particularly special as he became part of a rare group of runners to wear Kenyan colours in a major championship.

“A friend of mine once gave me a T-shirt of Kenya and I took it but I didn’t wear it,” he said.

“I said: ‘God help me, one day, I’ll not be given it by somebody, I’ll be given a T-shirt by the country to wear.

“I did not wear it until I got in the Commonwealth Games team.

“That’s when I turned into somebody.”

Mungara finished 10th at the Games in 2:25.42 as the entire field struggled in 28C heat and suffocating humidity.

But yesterday, he was back to his best, notching yet another sub 2:10 marathon to cement his place as the undisputed king of the Gold Coast Marathon.

Gold Coast Marathon. Race winner Kenneth Mungara stays just ahead of Japan’s Kenta Murayama in the final stages of the race. Photo by Richard Gosling

Mungara said he “corrected my mistakes from last year”, feeling he had done all the work in the final kilometres to drag a relatively fresh Noguchi into the finishing straight with him, only to see the Japanese sprint past for the win.

“Last year I brought the guy to the finishing line but this time, I tried my best to move from the 27km,” he said.

“Then there were another two Japanese, different guys, they come each year.

“I let the guy (Murayama) go and do the job.

“I had to make a move before I went to the finish line.”

Crowd favourite Yuki Kawauchi, who won the Boston marathon earlier this year, was unable to make an impact on the race, finishing ninth in 2:14.50.