Kenneth Mungara determined to dominate the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon – Athletics news
Kenneth Mungara, the veteran long-distance runner from Kenya, who is a three-time winner of Toronto Waterfront Marathon, is determined to claim this year’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon all over again. The event, which is regarded as the International
Association of Athletics Federations Silver Label Road Race, will commence on Sunday, October 16.
Last year, the 38-year-old Kenyan had bagged the event title for an emphatic finish of two hours, seven minutes and 58 seconds, and while expressing his love for the track in Canada, he had vowed to mark a similar performance in 2011.
This year, when asked about his expectations from the event, the veteran runner said, “I don’t know, I don’t know. Toronto is very hard; got a lot of tough guys there. I want to go 2:07 or under 2:07. If I go there and have a good pacemaker I can run 2:07
or 2:06. My training is very good. I am doing very fine. Let me tell you, this is God. I have to do things my way. I let God do the rest.”
Moreover, Mungara also disregarded the importance of age difference in determining results of the competition, as to him, age was just a number. He was of the view that a runner even older than him could stand a strong chance of bagging the event title,
provided that he had worked hard to keep his shape and maintain his stamina.
Despite being 38 years of age, the Kenyan still sees himself running for two to four years down the line. By then, he is in no mood to sit still. For running in Toronto alone, he has bagged about $ 40,000. The good thing about the runner is that after prevailing
in one contest, he is always looking forward to accept a new challenge. Furthermore, he is a resilient athlete and usually does not take long before recovering from hectic schedules.
Talking about the time that he takes before recovering, Mungara, who also helps young athletes to get trained, said, “Most of the time I take one week off (after a Marathon) because I have other guys training and I have to push them. After one week I recover.
It was not in my plans to run in Singapore. This guy I train with, I left him alone to go to Australia. He didn’t perform well. I was supposed to go and help this guy and train with him.”
The Kenyan indeed is a kind-hearted athlete, and not only that, he is simply matchless when it comes to running for an event title. The emphatic runner although does not have a long list of events where he had marked his dominance, but the Toronto marathon
offers him a track, where bypassing him becomes a daunting task for his competitors. Considering his potential for the game and his resolve to emerge at the run, his spectators would also be waiting for this year’s Toronto waterfront marathon to unfold.
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