Esther Wanjiru Maina (born March 27, 1977) is a retired female

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 ...

from

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. She is from Kahuhia,

Murang'a District Murang'a County is one of the counties of Kenya's former Central Province (Kenya), Central Province. Its largest town and capital is Murang'a, formerly referred to as Fort Hall during the colonial era. It is inhabited mainly by and is consider ...

. On January 15, 1999 she finished second at a

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 ...

race in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. The race was won by

Elana Meyer Elana Meyer, OIS, (born 10 October 1966) is a South African long-distance runner who won the silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in the 10,000 metres event. Meyer set the 15 kilometres road running African record of 46:57 minutes in Nov ...

, who set a world record, while Wanjiru scored did also beat the previous world record by timing 1:06:49 She won the

Sendai Half Marathon is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

in 1998 and 1999, and finished second in 2000. She finished third at the 2000

Osaka Ladies Marathon The is an annual marathon road race for women over the classic distance of 42.195 kilometres which is held on the 4th or 5th Sunday of January in the city of Osaka, Japan, and hosted by Japan Association of Athletics Federations, Kansai Tel ...

, setting her personal best of 2:23:31 hours. Wanjiru became the first Kenyan woman to win Commonwealth Games gold medal, although

Jackline Maranga Jackline Maranga (born December 16, 1977, in Nyanturago, Kisii) is a retired Kenyan middle-distance runner. She won a silver medal at the World Junior Championships at the age of 15, and also won silver medals in the two following Championships, ...

won 1500 metres later at the same games.August 3, 2002: Daily Nation, Lukewarm performance by team in Manchester

Achievements

She also competed in the marathon at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. She pulled out of the race whilst leading.

Trivia

* Wanjiru made a cameo in the 2000 Japanese movie
Pinch Runner
as herself.

References

*
trackfield.brinkster
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wanjiru, Ester 1977 births Kenyan female long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Kenya Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Kenya Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Living people