Mvuyekure shines in Athens Marathon

RWANDA’S long distance runner Jean Pierre Mvuyekure came fifth in the 31st Athens Classic Marathon on Sunday, trailing only a pack of four Kenyans.

Monday, November 11, 2013
Jean Pierre Mvuyekure (R), seen here competing in last year's London Olympic Games. Times Sport/ File.

Results1. Yego Kipkogei (Ken) 02:13:502. Dickson Kimeli (Ken) 02:14:323. Kibet Rutoh (Ken) 02:14:434. Kibet Kosgei (Ken) 02:16:535. J.P Mvuyekure (Rwa) 02:17:15  RWANDA’S long distance runner Jean Pierre Mvuyekure came fifth in the 31st Athens Classic Marathon on Sunday, trailing only a pack of four Kenyans.Mvuyekure, who finished outside the medal bracket, clocked two hours, 17 minutes and 15 seconds. He finished three minutes and 35 seconds behind Kenya’s Hillary Kipkogei Yego, who beat three other Kenyans to win the race in two hours, 13 minutes and 59 seconds.  Dickson Kimeli came in second in 2:14.40, followed by David Kipkorir Rutoh (2:14.47) and Paul Kibet Kosgei (2:16.58). This was Mvuyekure’s second appearance in an international marathon, having won a bronze medal in the 25th Mangyongdae Prize Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race in Pyongyang, North Korea in April. He made his international Marathon debut at the 2012 London Olympic Games where he finished in the last group.The Athens Marathon women’s race was won by 26-year-old Kenyan Nancy Joan Rotich, who clocked 2:41.38. Some 17,000 runners from 102 countries took part in the classic marathon which began just a short distance from the tumulus erected for the Greek dead of the battle of Marathon and finishing at the all-marble Panathenaic Stadium, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896.