Peter Cheruiyot Kirui (born 2 January 1988) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who competes over

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 ra ...

on the track and in

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ...

competitions. He was the 2011 Kenyan champion over 10,000 m and came sixth at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

. He has acted as a pacemaker for major marathons (including

Patrick Makau Patrick Makau Musyoki (born 2 March 1985) is a runner from Kenya. He is a former world record holder in the marathon—His time of 2:03:38, run at the 2011 Berlin Marathon, was the world record for two years, until it was beaten by Wilson Kipsa ...

's world record in 2011) and has a marathon best of 2:06:31 hours. His best for the

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 shortcut ...

is 59:22 minutes.

Career

Hailing from

Bomet Bomet is the capital and largest town of Bomet County, Kenya. Bomet town has a total population of 110,963 (2009 census). It is located along the B3 Mai Mahiu-Narok-Kisii road. Bomet city is one of the eight sister cities to Milwaukee. Etymolo ...

in Kenya, Kirui had his first foreign competition at the Cursa de Bombers in Barcelona and was runner-up to Josphat Menjo. He won the Carreira Popular in

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

in 2009 and was also fourth at the 15 km Villa de Massamagrell that year (which was also won by Menjo). He made his

debut in 2009 and made the top four at the Nice Half Marathon,

Udine Half Marathon The Udine Half Marathon ( it, Maratonina Udine) is an annual road running event over the half marathon distance (21.1 km/13.1 mi) which takes place in late September in Udine, Italy. The competition is organised by the Associazione Marat ...

and the Baringo Half Marathon.Peter Kirui
Posso Sports. Retrieved 29 July 2013. He ran on the track in Spain that summer, recording a 3000 metres best of 7:45.79 minutes in

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

and a 5000 metres best of 13:15.90 minutes at the Barcelona Athletics Meeting. At the start of 2010 he was runner-up at the

Berlin Half Marathon The Berlin Half Marathon is a major endurance event held annually in early spring in Berlin, Germany. Besides the runner's main race, the event includes a race for inline skaters, wheelchair athletes and handbikers. All athletes use the same co ...

, finishing just one second behind winner Eshetu Wondimu. He finished fifth at the

Paderborn Easter Run Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

. He ran in a series of races in the United States, winning the

Lilac Bloomsday Run The Lilac Bloomsday Run, also known as Bloomsday, is an annual timed road race in the northwest United States, held on the first Sunday of May since 1977 in The course length is 12 km (7.456 mi). The run has had over 38,000 participants every ...

and taking the runner-up spots at the Utica Boilermaker,

Peachtree Road Race The Peachtree Road Race (branded AJC Peachtree Road Race for sponsorship reasons) is an American 10-kilometer run held annually in Atlanta. After being held on Independence Day from 1970 to 2019, the race was cancelled because of the COVID pand ...

and Bay to Breakers. He proved himself to be a competent pacemaker that year: he paced

to a time of 2:04:48 hours at the

Rotterdam Marathon The Rotterdam Marathon, currently branded NN Rotterdam Marathon, is an annual marathon that has been held in Rotterdam, Netherlands since 1981. It has been held in April every year since the third edition in 1984 and attracts many top athletes ...

in April and helped

Samuel Wanjiru Samuel Kamau Wanjiru (10 November 1986 – 15 May 2011) was a Kenyan long-distance runner who won the 2008 Beijing Olympics Marathon in an Olympic record time of 2:06:32; becoming the first Kenyan to win the Olympic gold in the marathon. He beca ...

to a time of 2:06:24 at the

2010 Chicago Marathon The 2010 Chicago Marathon was the 33rd running of the annual marathon race in Chicago, United States, held on Sunday, October 10. Over 38,000 runners took part, the most in the race's history. Kenyan Samuel Wanjiru won the men's event with a tim ...

. Kirui closed his season with a ninth-place finish at the

New Delhi Half Marathon Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM) is an annual half marathon foot-race held in New Delhi, India. Established in 2005, it is both an elite runner and mass participation event. It is an AIMS-certified course and is listed as a Gold Label Road Rac ...

. Kirui established himself in his own right in 2011. In a close finish at the CPC Half Marathon, he ran a personal best time of 59:40 minutes, completing the distance in under an hour for the first time. He won the

race at the Kenyan Administration Police Championships and produced an upset at the Kenyan Athletics Championships by claiming the national title over the distance, beating African champion

Wilson Kiprop Wilson Kiprop (born 14 April 1987 in Soi, Uasin Gishu District) is a Kenyan long-distance runner, who specialises in the 10,000 metres and half marathon. He was the world champion at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 2010 and was th ...

and Boston Marathon winner

Geoffrey Mutai Geoffrey Kiprono Mutai (born 7 October 1981) is a Kenyan long distance runner who specialises in road running competitions. On 18 April 2011 at the Boston Marathon, Mutai ran the fastest marathon ever at the time in a time of 2 hours 3 minutes 2 ...

among others. This gained him a place on the Kenyan team for the

in Daegu. He ran a personal best of 27:25.63 minutes in the event final, which brought him sixth place behind his compatriot

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 ...

. Following his world championship appearance, he returned to pacemaking duties on the marathon circuit. He aided Patrick Makau to a world record time at the 2011 Berlin Marathon. Kirui also broke the world record time with his 30 km split of 1:27:38 hours in Berlin (although it was Makau who was given the record as he finished the race). A month later, Kirui set the pace for the

Frankfurt Marathon The Frankfurt Marathon (official name as of 2016: Mainova Frankfurt Marathon, until 2015: BMW Frankfurt Marathon, until 2010: Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon) is a marathon which has taken place every year in Frankfurt am Main since its inception i ...

until 35 km and not only did the winner

Wilson Kipsang Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich (born 15 March 1982) is a Kenyan professional athlete who specialises in long-distance running, competing in events ranging from 10 km to the marathon. He was the bronze medallist in the marathon at the 2012 Summer O ...

set the second fastest time in history, but Kirui managed to finish the race to set a marathon best of 2:06:33 hours for himself. He began 2012 with a win at the

New York Half Marathon The New York City Half Marathon (branded as the United Airlines NYC Half) is an annual half marathon road running race from Brooklyn's Prospect Park to Manhattan's Central Park via the Manhattan Bridge, held since 2006. It passes through o ...

, edging

Deriba Merga Deriba Merga Ejigu ( am, ደርባ መርጋ አጅጉ; born 26 October 1980) is an Ethiopian professional long-distance runner. He mainly competes in the marathon. He finished fourth in that event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and went on to win ...

in the latter stages to finish in a personal best of 59:39 minutes. Running in his second competitive marathon, Kirui dropped out of the

after 30 km. He continued to perform well in the half distance, claiming a victory at the

Bogotá Half Marathon The Bogotá International Half Marathon ( es, Media Maratón Internacional de Bogotá), or mmB as it is traditionally known, is an annual road running competition over a half marathon distance () taking place in Bogotá, Colombia in late July ...

that July. He managed tenth place at the Amsterdam Marathon. Kirui failed to finish at the

Lake Biwa Marathon The was a marathon race held in Otsu, Shiga, Japan. It was one of the prominent marathons in Japan. It was a male only competition and had IAAF Gold Label status.Nakamura, Ken (2010-03-07)Tsegay takes Lake Biwa crown IAAF. Retrieved on 2010- ...

. He attempted to gain a place in the

for the World Championships but came twelfth at the Kenyan Athletics Championships. He attempted to defend his Bogotá title in July, but was runner-up to Geoffrey Kipsang. On April 5, 2014, he set a new personal record, running a half marathon in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

in 59:22 minutes.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirui, Peter Cheruiyot Living people 1988 births Kenyan male long-distance runners Kenyan male marathon runners People from Bomet County Sportspeople from Rift Valley Province Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Kenya