5 female Kenyan distance runners who are enjoying careers spanning over 20 years

This article outlines the five Kenyan women who have enjoyed careers spanning over 20 years and are still winning on the roads.

On Sunday, May 12, the world celebrated Mother’s Day and Pulse Sports Kenya is still in the mood, with this article looking at the four exceptional women who have enjoyed careers over 20 years and are still enjoying the fruits of their labour.

With no doubt, Edna Kiplagat makes the list and she has proven to be one of the most consistent Kenyan female runners. Vivian Cheruiyot, also known as Pocket Rocket, has also been proof that it is possible to bounce back after anything.

In most cases, very few women have enjoyed their running careers with most being forced to take breaks due to pregnancy and so on and they never have successful comebacks.

1) Edna Kiplagat

Starting her career in 1996, 44-year-old Edna Kiplagat has proven to be among the most successful runners that is still in the game. In 1996, she made her first national team, competing in the Under-20 race at the 24th World Cross Country Championships in South Africa.

The same year, she bagged her first medal, a silver, while competing at the Sydney World Junior Championships. That year was the beginning of a great chapter of her life and she just kept going.

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She also won a bronze medal at the 1998 World Junior Championships. In 2006, Kiplagat finished 13th in the long race at the 2006 World Cross Country Championships. Fast forward to 2010, she won the Los Angeles Marathon, only her second marathon ever, and went on to win the 2010 New York City Marathon.

She won her first Boston Marathon title in 2017 and proceeded to win the second title in 2021. She also bagged the 2014 London Marathon. She has continued her consistency and managed a fourth-place finish at the 2022 New York City Marathon and also finished third at the 2024 Boston Marathon.

2) Vivian Cheruiyot

Four-time World champion Vivian Cheruiyot has proven her resilience and is a depiction that women have the abilities to do well even after child birth and issues of life. Cheruiyot, a former Olympic champion, has always made a statement on the track and her shift to the roads has also been impressive.

Cheruiyot started her career back in 1998, where she finished an impressive fifth in the women’s under-20 race at the 26th World Cross Country Championships in Morocco. Her breakthrough year came in 1999 where she took the junior silver medal at the 1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

At the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics she won the bronze medal in the 3000 metres. Cheruiyot earned a senior call-up for the 1999 All-Africa Games, where she managed a bronze medal in the 5000 metres. She also became the junior champion at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

During the 2012 London Olympics, Cheruiyot won a silver medal in the 5000m and also won a bronze in the 10,000m. She also managed to win the 5000m gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and silver in the 10,000m.

At the World Championships, she won silver in the 5000m at the 2007 Osaka World Championships and later won gold at the 2009 Berlin World Championships before winning gold in the 5000m and 10,000m at the Daegu World Championships in 2011. She also won gold during the 2015 World Championships in the 10,000m.

Following her transition to the marathon, she won the 2003 Vitoria Marathon and claimed top honours in the 2017 Frankfurt Marathon before reigning supreme in the 2018 London Marathon. Her recent competition was the Paris Marathon where she finished third.

3) Sharon Cherop

Former World Championships bronze medallist Sharon Cherop began her career back in 1999 and at 40, she still has it in her legs to keep going. Cherop was the bronze medal winner in the marathon at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and won the Boston Marathon in 2012.

After her junior medals, it was not until 2010 that she enjoyed senior level success when she made her marathon debut at the Twin Cities Marathon, finishing third and won her first marathons in 2010, first at the Hamburg Marathon and then at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, which she won in 2:22:42 for the fastest marathon time on Canadian soil. Her personal best of 2:22:39 was set at the 2012 Dubai Marathon. In 2024, Cherop managed to finish second in the Hannover, to prove that she is still going.

4) Viola Kibiwott

Two-time World Cross Country Champion Viola Kibiwott has certainly proven that even at 40, an athlete has the ability to achieve a podium finish in any race. Kibiwott started her career back in 1999 with an eighth-place finish at the Johannesburg All-Africa Games.

Kibiwot won her first international medal as a junior runner at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where she took the bronze medal for Kenya. In 2001, she made her career breakthrough where she won the women’s under-20 race at the World Cross-Country Championships in Belgium.

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In 2024, Kibiwott is still running and has managed to cement her name in the world of long distance running where she finished second at the Rotterdam Marathon.

5) Selly Chepyego

Selly Chepyego started her career in 2001, and was able to establish herself at the World Youth Championships in Athletics in 2001, winning the 3000 metres title.

Several years later, she moved to Japan and won several corporate track running titles for the team. Chepyego represented Kenya at the 2006 International Chiba Ekiden, where she broke an African record, and then at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, where she placed seventh in the 10,000 metres. In 2024, Chepyego finished third at the Rotterdam Marathon at the age of 38.