Joseph Ngolepus (born 10 April 1975) is a Kenyan former marathon runner who won the 2001 Berlin Marathon, and finished third at the 2003 London Marathon. He also won the 2003 CPC Loop Den Haag half marathon, the 2004 Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon, the 2006 Madrid Marathon, and the 2008 half marathon.
Personal life Ngolepus comes from the same region of Kenya as Tegla Loroupe. He has four children.
Career Ngolepus started training in 1997 alongside Tegla Loroupe. He ran his first marathon in 1999, in a time of 2:16. In 2000, he came fourth at the Rotterdam Marathon in a time of 2:08:49.
Ngolepus entered the 2001 Berlin Marathon as a pacemaker for fellow Kenyans Willy Cheruiyot Kipkirui and William Kiplagat. After of the race, he decided to try and race for the victory instead. He eventually won, with Cheruiyot second. His finishing time was 2:08:47.
In 2003, Ngolepus won the CPC Loop Den Haag half marathon in a time of 1:00:56. The top six finishers in the race were Kenyan. Later in the year, he came third at the London Marathon, losing in a sprint by one second to Ethiopian Gezahegne Abera and Italy's Stefano Baldini. The top six finished within seven seconds of each other, making it the closest finish in London Marathon history. In 2004, he won the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon. The conditions were humid and windy, and Ngolepus' winning time of 2:11:04 was the slowest ever winning time at the event, and his split time for the last mile was 5:44. In 2005, Ngolepus came second at the Berlin Half Marathon behind fellow Kenyan Paul Kimugul.
In 2006, Ngolepus won the Madrid Marathon in a course record time of 2:11:30. The previous course record was 2:12:19, set by Tanzanian John Burra 15 years previously. In 2008, Ngolepus fled Kenya during the 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis, in order to compete at the Los Angeles Marathon. Later in the year, he won the half marathon race, in 1:01:24. In 2011, he was a pacemaker at the Vienna City Marathon, and dropped out of the race after . The race was won by Kenyan John Kiprotich.
Marathons According to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians, Ngolepus has competed in 31 marathons.Joseph Ngolepus. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
YearRaceRankTime1999 Stockholm Marathon 6th 2:18:491999 Graz Marathon3rd 2:18:43 2000 Rotterdam Marathon 4th 2:08:492000 Chicago Marathon 29th 2:27:292000 Palermo Marathon1st 2:13:482001 Rotterdam Marathon — 2001 Berlin Marathon 1st 2:08:472002 Hamburg Marathon 25th 2:21:292002 Vienna City Marathon 4th 2:13:182002 Berlin Marathon 20th 2:14:362003 London Marathon 3rd 2:07:57 2003 Chicago Marathon 12th 2:14:232004 London Marathon 11th 2:12:022004 San Diego Marathon 1st 2:11:042004 New York City Marathon — 2005 London Marathon — 2005 Berlin Marathon 5th 2:10:102005 Singapore Marathon 3rd 2:16:382006 Madrid Marathon 1st 2:11:302006 Berlin Marathon — 2006 Singapore Marathon 36th 2:36:032007 Essen Marathon2nd 2:20:082008 Berlin Marathon 6th 2:12:06.72009 Rotterdam Marathon — 2009 Prague Marathon — 2009 Berlin Marathon — 2009 Frankfurt Marathon — 2010 Ljubljana Marathon 10th 2:17:032011 Prague Marathon — 2011 Hamburg Marathon — 2011 Siberian International Marathon 3rd 2:25:41
References
External links