Meet Women’s Half-Marathon winner: A prison warden from Kenya

A prison warden by profession,it took Mutune months of rigourous training to achieve what most others only dream of.

“This is not my first time in Pune,” she says about her experience of running the Pune Marathon. Her climb up the ladder to the top has come after a three-year wait. From second runner-up in 2007,first runner-up last year and winner this year,her success has been hard-earned.

“I had come here in 2007,when I finished third overall. I knew the course out here is not easy,but then I hadn’t anticipated the humidity,which was trying at times.”

Back home in Kenya,Mutune is not a full-time professional athlete but works as a prison warden at a jail in Eldoret. Training while working as a prison warden was far from easy,she says. “I had to juggle my profession and personal ambitions. Back in Kenya,the employers don’t easily let us go for training or participating in tournaments. Hence,I had to train in break shifts daily,” she said.

“I would train in the morning every day for one hour and 90 minutes and for 50 minutes in the evening. It was difficult to sustain all this but the hard work paid off.”

Mutune said while a good diet was something she could afford thanks to help from her coach and the sponsors she could garner,the work schedule was draining. “I had to work at the prison and then train,and work again,which was tiring,” she said. She added that it is difficult for athletes to come up to the international level owing to little help from the government and facilities that are not conducive for the growth of athletes. “At one point during the race,I was looking for water and had trouble finding it. It was a co-competitor who gave me the water he was carrying with him. It is these things that eventually make someone a bigger sportsperson,on the track and off it,” she signed off.

Men’s full Marathon:
1. Augustine Ronoh (Kenya, 2hr 13:05 sec)
2. Peter Mutisya (Kenya,2hr 15:17sec)
3. Andrea Silvini Mathiya (Tanzania, 2hr 15:59 sec)
4. Eyop Woldegelorgis (Ethiopia, 2hr 16:34 sec)
5. Benson Kipsosgey (Kenya, 2hr 17:09 sec)
6. Martin Musembi (Kenya ,2hr 18:13 sec)
7 Patrick Nhyangero Lusato (Tanzania, 2hr 19:12 sec)

Women’s Half-Marathon1. Agnes Katunge Mutune (Kenya, 1hr 10:30 sec)2. Pauline Mutwa Thitu (Kenya, 1hr 10:40 sec)3. Hellen Nzembi Musyoka (Kenya, 1hr 10:50 sec)4. Kavita Raut (India, 1hr 12:50 sec)5. Josephine Muthio Kimuyu (Kenya, 1hr 15:10 sec)6. Euniice Mumbua Kioko (Kenya, 1hr 15:20 sec)7. Lydia Ruto (Kenya, 1hr 16:10 sec)