Master Runner Kenyan´s Mungara knows the course well and hopes to win the Commonwealth Games Marathon

Kenneth Mungara will be one of the oldest competitors in the Commonwealth Games Marathon but irrespective of his 44 years, Kenya’s Mungara will be the one to beat on the streets Sunday in Australia. The current Gold Coast Marathon race record holder (2:08:42), Mungara made a late start to marathon taking up the sport 11 years ago. A former barber, the veteran runner swapped the scissors with joggers after cutting the hair of other athletes. “I believed I could run well,” Mungara says. “I watched other runners coming to my barber shop, I observed them, and I thought I can beat them in running. “That is how it all started.” However the modest Kenyan doesn't believe that experience will give him a significant advantage saying: “Everyone running is a winner and this is the game in which one needs to play well all the time, otherwise winning is not possible. It is about the training for the race and then racing well. He has run 20 marathons since his debut in 2006. Three of the races have been on the stretch of road between Runaway Bay and Burleigh with his first win coming in 2015. The world masters record holder (40-45), also claimed first place on the Gold Coast upon his return in 2016 before settling for second place last year. The Commonwealth Games marathon course runs on the same roads he knows well. Everything will have to go right for Mungara since there is a very strong elite field.

posted Friday April 13th