Kenneth Mungara cruises to victory at the Waterfront Marathon – Athletics news
Kenneth Mungara claimed victory in a magnificent time of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 49 seconds over a world-class field of runners at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Sunday, October 16, in Toronto, Canada.
Mungara, the winner of the last three Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathons, was well acquainted with the track, despite the presence of a strong competitor, Ethiopia’s Shami Dawit.
The race started with quite cold and windy conditions, as the athletes commenced the race at a good pace into the wind which was blowing nearby Lake Ontario. The lead pack was able to cross the halfway point in a decent time of 1 hour, 3 minutes and 56 seconds.
Joseph Ngeny, the pacemaker of the meet, was dropped out at the 30km mark and left the lead pack of six runners, who continued their effort to win the title.
Later, the race got a decisive bent when the lead trio took the long stretch into the wind towards the finish line, where a tough battle was seen amongst the three contenders for the top spot.
Canadian athlete, Reid Coolsaet was seen having an interaction with Dawit and Mungara and after a while, the race came to its conclusion when Mungara plunged forward for the victory stretch and left Ethiopian, Shami Abdulahi Dawit, at the second spot on
the podium. The Ethiopian finished his race in a decent time of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 51 seconds. Coolsaet attained the third spot with a finishing time of 2 hours, 10 minutes and 55 seconds.
With a podium winning performance at the event, Coolsaet was successful in qualifying for the Olympics. He stated, “That was my main goal coming here - to solidify my spot on the Olympic team. Of course I wanted to get the record. It didn’t happen today
but there’s no timeline on it really so I will take a few shots at it in the coming years.”
The Canadian athlete added, “When I crossed the line I didn’t know what was going on. I turned behind me and saw Eric coming and looked at the clock and I knew it was going to be close. The two of us train together and we helped each other, pushed each other
to prepare for this race. Now we can prepare together for London.”
If Mungara is not prone to health issues in the future, then he will surely be remembered as a dominator in road running races due to his scintillating performances at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
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