Samuel Kamau Wanjiru is once again the item most in vogue Kenyan following his course record victory at the 32nd Chicago Marathon.
The Nyahururu-born runner captured a nation’s imagination on Sunday evening just over a year since he had the entire country singing his name after becoming the first Kenyan winner of Olympic Marathon gold medal in Beijing.
Yesterday, a nation’s debate veered from a number of biting political issues to discussion on Wanjiru’s fourth, and by far the most lucrative victory over the 42km distance as Kenyans sought to digest how one of their own made an astounding Sh70.35m in just 2:05:41!
He, however, nearly kissed a lot of money goodbye ($100,000/Sh7.6m) by waving to the crowd with each hand during his final strides before the finish line but did enough to beat Khalid Khannouchi’s 10-year-old record by one second.
Olympic champion Samuel Wanjiru crosses the finish line in Chicago Marathon in 2:05:41, a course record, to bag Sh70 m bounty on Sunday. Photo: Reuters
"I would have appreciated it if you were one second slower, Sammy," race director Carey Pinkowski joked to reporters.
A second slower, Wanjiru hardly would have gone home empty-handed and would still have received $75,000 (Sh5.75m) for a time better than the third fastest in Chicago history (2:05:56) that did not break the course record.
"I was very happy to see I was the winner," Wanjiru said of his celebratory waves. "It is unbelievable to take Sh7.6m for one second."
Potential suitors
On Sunday, he featured prominently in early morning shows on most FM radio stations, with callers, some of them potential suitors enquiring whether they could take his hand in marriage to share his windfall. For them, the ‘sad’ news is Trizah Kamau, his wife and mother to daughter Ann Wanjiru beat them to the punch.
"He called his family soon after clinching victory. Of course, there will be a major party when he returns," Robert Kioni, one of the coaches that nurtured the precocious 22-year-old told FeverPitch.
Residents of his Nyahururu rural home are getting used to feasting Wanjiru’s triumphs after mammoth parties were thrown in the athletes’ honour after last year’s Olympics and London Marathon in April. He was even installed as a Kikuyu elder after Beijing, never mind he is yet to celebrate his 23rd birthday.
Sunday’s Chicago win confirmed Wanjiru as the third Kenyan winner of the World Marathon Majors series and with it, a $500,000 (Sh38m) jackpot. For breaking the course record, he earned a further $100,000 (Sh7.6m) in addition to a $75,000 (Sh5.75m) winner’s take home.
A reported $250,000 (Sh19m) appearance fee saw the Olympic champion become the highest paid sportsperson in the country this year, taking the mantle from fellow Beijing winner and world junior 800m women’s record holder, Pamela Jelimo who clinched the IAAF Golden League jackpot last year.
Wanjiru is rapidly turning into the greatest men’s marathoner in history.
He has won four of his first five marathons, including the 2008 Olympic title in a course record.
Only one person, record holder Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie, has a faster average for his five best marathons (2:04:57) than Wanjiru (2:05:53); no one has run faster in his first five than Wanjiru; and the winning time Sunday, fastest ever run in the Americas, was only Wanjiru’s third fastest.
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