Josephat Muchiri Ndambiri (born 12 February 1985) is a Kenyan

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires endurance, stamina as well as mental strength. Within e ...

. He represented his country at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

in 2007. He is based in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and trains with

PACE Sports Management PACE Sports Management is a sports management and marketing company based in Monaco and London, directed by Ricky Simms. Background KIM McDonald International management was founded in the 80's by former middle distance runner Kim McDonald. Th ...

. He moved to Japan as a teenager on an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United Stat ...

and specialised in long-distance

track running Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, including the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

and

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

. He competed for, and graduated from,

Ryutsu Keizai University is a Japanese private university in Ryūgasaki, Ibaraki. It was founded in 1965. The school has secondary campuses in Matsudo, Chiba and also in Kashiwa, Chiba. See also * Ryutsu Keizai University F.C., affiliated football club. *List of univer ...

. At the 2005

Sapporo Half Marathon The was an annual road running competition over the half marathon distance which took place each July in Sapporo, Japan. First held in 1958, the race began as a full marathon competition for men under the moniker of the Hokkai Times Marathon. Th ...

, he led for the first half of the race but had faded to fourth by the finish point. At the end of the year he represented Kenyan in the

International Chiba Ekiden The Ekiden#Other_Major_Ekiden_Events_in_Japan, International Chiba Ekiden was an annual team road running competition held in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba, Japan in late November. The marathon relay race (athletics), relay race, or ekiden as it is known in ...

. Running the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

distance with a relay team of

Martin Mathathi Martin Irungu Mathathi (born 25 December 1985 in Nyahururu) is a Kenyan long-distance runner, who competes in track, cross country and road running events. Mathathi won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2007 World Championships in O ...

Daniel Mwangi Daniel Muchunu Mwangi (born 1984) is a Kenyan long-distance runner. He is a joint world record holder for the ekiden marathon relay race. Biography He gained an athletic scholarship as a teenager to train and study in Japan. In 2003 he ran bests ...

Mekubo Mogusu Mekubo Job Mogusu (born 25 December 1986) is a Kenyan long distance runner who specialises in road running, particularly the half marathon. An emigrant to Japan, he has won the Sapporo Half Marathon on three occasions and the Kagawa Marugame Hal ...

Onesmus Nyerere Onesmus Nyerere (born 10 November 1983) is a Kenyan former long-distance runner. He was a member of the team that set the world record for the Ekiden road relay on 23 November 2005 in the International Chiba Ekiden. The team, which consisted of ...

and

John Kariuki John Kariuki (born 10 November 1986) is a Kenyan former long-distance runner. At the age of 14 he emigrated to Japan, where he attended Shiga Gakuen High School. After graduating from school, he started competing professionally for the Toyota B ...

, he helped set a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

time of 1:57:06 hours for the popular Japanese event. Ndambiri won a second Chiba Ekiden title with Kenya the following year, where he won his 5-kilometre leg by a margin of over twenty seconds. He won the 10,000 metres at the Kenyan Championships in 2007 and in his major international debut he finished fifth in the event at the 2007 World Championships. A month after his world appearance, he took a 5000/10,000 m double at the Japan Corporate Team Track & Field Championships. He attempted to gain selection for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, but ended the trials in seventh and was not picked for the squad. Representing the

Komori Corporation is a Japanese press manufacturer that manufactures Sheet-fed printing#Web-fed offset, web offset presses, Security printing, security printing presses, Sheet-fed printing#Sheet-fed offset, sheet-fed offset presses, package printing presses and ...

, he ran in the New Year Ekiden and won his 8.3 km stage. In the 2009 track season he became the first athlete to run the 10,000 m under 27 minutes on Japanese soil, taking the win at the Shizuoka International in an all-comers record of 26:57.36 minutes. He came seventh at the

RAK Half Marathon Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon is an annual half marathon held in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. History The first event, in 2007, saw Samuel Wanjiru breaking the world record, but Wanjiru himself set a new world record only a month later in ...

in 2010, setting a personal best of 1:01:07 hours. The following year he came fourth over 10,000 m at the Hyogo Relays and then claimed third place at the Sapporo Half Marathon in June. He made his debut over the

distance in December 2011 and made a successful transition by taking the

Fukuoka Marathon The is an IAAF Gold Label international men's marathon race held in Fukuoka, Japan. It was previously known as the Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship between 1947 and 2021, when it was announced the race would be discontinued on its ...

title in a time of 2:07:36 hours.

Personal bests

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

- 3:38.72 min (2004) *

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

- 7:42.98 min (2006) *

- 13:05.33 min (2005) *

- 26:57.36 min (2009) *

Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

- 1:01:07 hrs (2010) *

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

- 2:07:36 hrs (2011)

References

External links

*
PACE Sports Management profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ndambiri, Josephat 1985 births Living people Kenyan male long-distance runners Kenyan male marathon runners World Athletics record holders (relay)