For the fifth time in 22 editons of the event, Lawrence Cherono and Lucy Karimi made it a double for Kenya at the Volkswagen Prague Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday morning (8).

Cherono made a powerful late-race surge to win the men’s race in 2:07:24, taking over two minutes off his previous best, while compatriot Lucy Karimi did likewise to take the women’s title in 2:24:46.

With the sun rising high in the sky by the time the event got under way – and temperatures steadily climbing to 19 degrees Celsius throughout the morning – the pace was kept to a steady tempo over the opening half of both races.

In the men's race, a group of 11 passed 10km in 30:00, only marginally picking up the pace thereafter, and the lead pack was still nine-strong by the time they reached 20km in 59:49.

At halfway, passed in 1:03:06, Ethiopia’s Seboka Dibaba was the only non-Kenyan among the leading pack, which was reduced to eight by the time the leaders reached 30km in 1:30:18.

At that point, it was clear the course record of 2:05:39, set by Eliud Kiptanui in 2010, was out of reach but, nonetheless, the leaders began to slowly crank down through the gears.

The athlete most keen to push things along was Kenya’s Felix Kandie, who whittled the leading pack down to three as he passed 35km in 1:45:28. Running alongside him were compatriots Lawrence Cherono and Solomon Yego, with Yego in particular doing more than his fair share of pacing duties at the front.

However just past the 37km mark, Yego found the pace too hot to handle and lost contact with the leading duo. At that point, Kandie continued to apply pressure up front, but Cherono seemed comfortable on his shoulder.

Shortly after the 38km mark, Cherono surged to the front and created an advantage, one which he would extend all the way to the finish.

Cherono raised his arms aloft as he crossed the line in the Old Town Square in 2:07:24, over two minutes faster than his previous best of 2:09:39, which he ran to win the Zurich Marathon last year.

“I felt very tired at the end because the course was tough, not very flat, so it tired me out," said Cherono. "I was having a little panic because sometimes you can go alone until the last minute and someone could come and pass you. I had to worry. I'm very happy because I am the champion."

Kandie faded badly over the closing kilometres but still managed to come home second in 2:08:14, well clear of fellow Kenyan Solomon Yego, who ran 2:08:31 to finish third.

Daniel Wanjiru was fourth in 2:09:25, the last man to dip under 2:10:00. In total, seven men broke 2:15:00, an indication of how much the conditions took their toll.

Winning the Czech national marathon crown for the second time since 2014 was Petr Pechek in 2:22:14, who was 14th overall.

Leicester City have won the English Premier League title after closest rivals Tottenham Hotspur blew a two-goal lead to draw at last season's winners Chelsea.

Monday's result meant second-placed Tottenham will not be able to overtake Leicester City, who have a seven-point lead at the top.
Tottenham's two-goal advantage came courtesy of first-half goals from Harry Kane and Son Heung-min but Chelsea pulled a goal back just before the hour-mark with a Gary Cahill strike from a corner.

A late equaliser from Eden Hazard sealed the draw, and the title for Leicester City who fought off relegation last season.

With two games left for both sides, Tottenham need three points to secure second place.

A bad-tempered game at Stamford Bridge produced a rash of yellow cards while several players were lucky to stay on the pitch as tempers boiled over at full-time.

The game ended with scuffles between Tottenham players and staff and their Chelsea counterparts.

But the scenes at Stamford Bridge were secondary to those in Leicester, where thousands of fans had gathered to watch the match across the city.

Eliud Kipchoge successfully defended his London Marathon title in a course record on Sunday to seal his place in Kenya’s Olympic marathon team.

Kipchoge broke away from New York City Marathon champion Stanley Biwott just before the 40km mark, cruising home to victory in 2 hours, 03 minutes and 05 seconds, missing the World record by seven seconds.

However, his time was not only enough to break the course record held by Wilson Kipsang of 2:04:29 when he won the 2014 race, but also improved on his personal best of 2:04:00 from his victory in Berlin last year.

The world record of 2:02:57 is being held by Dennis Kimetto from the 2014 Berlin Marathon victory.

Biwott finished second in personal best of 2:03:51 as Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele finished third at 2:06:38.

The race zeroed down to Kipchoge, Biwott and Bekele as they crossed the 27km mark in 1:14:49.

However, Bekele’s legs wilted against the might of Kenyans as he fell back with Kipchoge and Biwott cruising on past the 30km in 1:29:12.

Isabella Ochichi and Shadrack Kemboi achieved a Kenyan double at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, winning the women’s and men’s contests respectively at the IAAF Silver Label Road Race on Sunday (20).

On a day when humidity was between 70-80%, Ochichi recorded a personal best of 2:30:20 to take 37 seconds off the course record set last year by Meseret Biru.

Kemboi, who finished fourth in this race last year, made it to the top of the podium this time with a winning performance of 2:11:41.

Ochichi had Bahrain’s Eunice Chumba for company in the first half, which was covered in 1:14:22, well inside course record pace.

Chumba then began to fade, leaving Ochichi to run alongside some male athletes as she completed the race in 2:30:20.

It took more than a minute from the 2:31:38 PB she set on her marathon debut in Amsterdam. It was also her first marathon victory after finishing fourth in Amsterdam in 2013 and third in Honolulu in 2014.

“I always wanted a marathon victory,” said Ochichi, the 2004 Olympic 5000m silver medallist. “I thought that it would come in Honolulu in 2014, but I got it today on my home continent – Africa – and I couldn’t be happier.”

Chumba finished second in 2:33:12 and Jemila Shure from Ethiopia was third in 2:37:52.

After an hour and a half of running in the men’s race, a group of nine athletes were still together. South Africa’s Lungile Gongqa was the first to try to make a break, but he was reeled back in after a few minutes. Nevertheless, his injection of pace helped to break up the leading pack.

Just a few minutes later, Kemboi was the next to make a move. He hit the front and soon opened up a gap on the field, one which grew until the finish line.

Within a matter of moments, he was away and clear out in front and he eventually crossed the line in 2:11:41. After a 1:07:01 first half, the second half was significantly quicker with Kemboi covering the final 13.1 miles in 1:04:40.

All three of his marathon victories to date have all been on South African soil, having won in Soweto in 2012 and Johannesburg in 2013.

President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday hosted the sevens at state house in a reception marked with glamour and pomp.The president also rewarded the triumphant national sevens rugby team with Ksh10M for their historic main cup victory in Singapore.
Kenya pulled off a stunning 30-7 upset victory over defending champions and series leaders Fiji to claim their first ever world sevens series title in the eighth leg of the 2015/2016 world sevens series. Focus now shifts to Paris sevens where Kenya is pooled together with New Zealand, Portugal and Russia.

Traditional dancers greeted Kenya’s winning rugby sevens team Tuesday when they landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, as the country celebrated its first victory on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
The dancers – some donning the Kenyan flag – lined up on both sides of a red carpet as the players stepped off a flight from Singapore, where they won their first series tournament by beating Fiji 30-7 on Sunday.
The result adds Kenya to the list of teams in the running to win the inaugural Olympics tournament in Rio de Janeiro later this year.
Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, who had indicated he will personally receive the team, was not at the airport with officials saying he was held up.
Kenya sevens captain Andrew Amonde holds the Singapore Sevens trophy aloft as they arrive at the Jomo Kenyatta international airport in Kenya’s capital Nairobi. Photo: Reuters
Sports cabinet secretary Hassan Wario, who welcomed the team, urged them to help Kenya increase its Olympic medal tally which traditionally has come from track events.

 Kenya’s all-time leading try scorer Collins Injera was named the eighth HSBC player of the final after his two tries helped Shujaa to a 30-7 triumph over defending champions Fiji at the eighth round of the Rugby Sevens World Series in Sunday’s Singapore 7s Cup final

Injera collected the award after he helped his side to a historic first-ever Cup final, having earlier booked his side’s place in the final with a drop goal penalty.

The tries were his 224th and 225th career tries, leaving him just five short of Santiago Gomez Cora’s record, aged 32 from Argentina who has netted 230 tries., and six from beating it.

Shujaa’s Collins Injera had previously moved into second place of the top try scorers in the world after scoring his 221 try at Vancouver IRB series in Canada.

It was a memorable occasion for the vice captain and Kenya, having never won a Cup before on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series since their inaugural in 1999.

Injera’s brother Humphrey Kayange scored his 150th and Kenya’s 1,500th sevens try in their 24-21 victory over Russia in the Las Vegas IRB series in US, on March 5, 2016.

Having famously signed the TV camera when scoring his 200th in London last year,Injera is known for his speed, power and confidence and soon will beat the Argentinian to be all time scorer. .

injera

Kenya made history by squishing defending champions and series leaders Fiji 30-7 to claim the Singapore Sevens Main Cup title, on Sunday.
This is Kenya's first ever Cup title in the World Sevens Series. The famous victory over Fiji saw Shujaa leapfrog England into the seventh place on the overall IRB Series rankings after garnering 12 points from the eighth leg to take their point tally to 85. South Africa finished third after beating Argentina 28-0 as Samoa stunned New Zealand 26-21 to lift the Plate. On their way to the final, Kenya stunned Argentina 15-12 as Fiji thrashed South Africa 28-0. Nelson Oyoo put Kenya ahead with an unconverted try before Injera struck two tries to go within two tries of Argentina's Santiago Gomez Cora at the top of the all-time try scoring charts with a try double to earn the player of the final award. Sammy Oliech then scored the third try to hand Kenya a comfortable 20-0 halftime lead. Jerry Tuwai pulled a try back for Fiji that was converted by Vatemo Ravouvou, but Oyoo raced from his own half to put the game beyond Fiji with a brilliant unconverted try. Substitute Frank Wanyama sealed the famous victory with a try in the corner.

Abera of Ethiopia, the world's leading marathoner this season won the Hamburg Marathon on Sunday by covering the distance in two hours, six minutes, 59 seconds while two Kenyans, Philemon Rono was second in 2:07:20 and Josphat Kiprono third in 2:10:44.

Wind was a strong factor as shown by the race splits and the way the men’s race developed. In the early stages a tail wind gave the leading group an extra boost between 7 and 15 kilometres, giving them a split time for the latter of 44:17 and on course for a finishing time of 2:04:30. The course record of 2:05:30, set by Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge three years ago, appeared to be in danger.

They couldn’t maintain this kind of pace consistently as headwinds began to blow strongly. The leading group comprising ten men reached halfway in 62:49 but by 30km the numbers were cut in half. This quintet consisted of four runners plus the Kenyan pacemaker Albert Kangogo and reached 30km in 1:29:29. The pacemaker then dropped out, leaving the outcome to be decided between Tesfaye Abera and Philemon Ron along with the Ethiopian Abayneh Ayele and Eritrea’s Yekeber Bayabel. It came down to a duel between the lanky Abera, 1.92m tall, and the diminutive Rono. After 35km the Ethiopian made a break but the Kenyan was back with him two kilometres later. The decisive attack came shortly before 40km when Abera attacked and Rono had no response..

Harambee Starlets made history on Tuesday when they qualified for their first ever Africa Women’s Championships after holding Algeria to a 1-1 draw in the return leg of their second round clash in Nairobi.

The result saw the Starlets go through on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate and make the continental showpiece event set for Cameroon in November.

It will be the first appearance by any Kenyan team at the Afcon finals since the men’s side competed in the Tunisia 2004 edition.
Substitute Cheris Avilia Salono was the heroine as her second-half goal pulled Starlets level after the visitors had taken a first-half lead through Bouheni Naima.

With most of the hard work done last Friday when the Kenyans held Algeria to a 2-2 draw in Algiers, the hosts went into the game aware that a 0-0 or 1-1 draw or a win of any kind would see them through to the finals.
“Congratulations to the Harambee Starlets for making history by qualifying for African Cup of Nations. This is a big win and a massive boost for the women’s game in Kenya. Your success is an inspiration for young girls across Kenya and affirmation that they too can make it in the game,” Ruto said in a statement shortly after the match.

“We are behind you and we will support you all the way at the Cup of Nations as you make Kenya even prouder and lift our name higher,” added the DP.

           b                                Above: Esse Akida fights for the balls against Algerian's Defender Fatima Bara