Who knew? A sub 2:10 Kenyan and I have something in common. Unfortunately it is neither any PB (I might beat him in the pool, how sad is that?) nor even the running style. I am more Elephant than Gazelle. But we are both 34 years old. That said, I am certainly very happy to see a gun like Kigen going for another win at a big city marathon. Wilfred seems to like German turf. He's a triple Frankfurt Marathon winner and has raced multiple German cities such as Hamburg placing second there twice. This weekend he intends to win Dusseldorf's 26.2.
As most marathoners he races the long haul twice a year. But who can show a streak of sub 2:10 since 2004?
Unfortunately though, with age comes injury (don't get me started). He had to drop out of NYC last year at mile 15 and was off his feet for a month.
"In Düsseldorf I want to run a low 2:09 and break the course record of 2:09:47," said Wilfred Kigen and added: "For me it is important to show that I am back in form since my Achilles tendon injury."
Originally Wilfred comes from - guess where - Eldoret, the centre of Kenyan distance running. As a pupil he ran to school, covering 20 kilometres per day for eight years. That 'training' was probably the basis for his future career, call it 'prototype Kenyan runner'. "Without running to school I might never have become a runner," said Kigen, who only started doing competitions in his final year at school. "I was not bad, but I did not win every race." It was another Kenyan world-class runner, who had a decisive influence on Wilfred Kigen's career: Wilson Boit Kipketer is a good friend of him. He had won the World Championships' gold medal at the steeplechase in 1997 and then broke the world record shortly after that with 7:59.08 minutes.
Wilfred Kigen has three brothers and three sisters. With the money earned by running he also supports his siblings and his mother. His father had been a farmer, but he died in a car accident in 1995. When Wilfred became a world-class marathon runner the family benefited a lot. Today he has five children himself. His wife works as a teacher and even speaks some German. "When my manager Gerard calls they speak German," says Wilfred Kigen, who now lives in Ngog not far from Nairobi. "I can train very well there, though it is just in an altitude of 1,800 metres, which is not as high as Eldoret or Iten." In Ngog he regularly meets former world record holder Paul Tergat, who lives there as well. But they train in different groups.
mzungo.org wishes Kigen all the best for Sunday - go get that course record!
Thanks to runnersweb.com for the additional information.
And another add-on by our reader Jeroen who lives in the epicentre of Kenyan running, Iten: "Wilfred lives in Ngong and except of Tergat, his next door neighbour is Olympic champ. Nancy Langat. After winning Frankfurt the 3rd time, he called his youngest son Frank. In the picture you see him with his oldest daughter Patience, who was in Frankfurt while mamma was in labour."
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