Kenya’s Margaret Muriuki Conquers Hollywood While Compatriot John Langat Settles For Second Place In 2020 Los Angeles Marathon

March 8, 2020

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Kenya’s Margaret Wangari Muriuki won the 2020 edition of Los Angeles Marathon (Women) with a time of 2:29:27.68. Ethiopia’s Almaz Negede finished second while Kenya’s Jane Kibii settled for a third place finish.

Muriuki and Negede dropped the rest of the field by the time race turned onto Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills and Century City with Muriuki appearing to have an advantage with a 1,500-meter personal best of 4 minutes, 6.50 seconds, a world class time. However, the race was decided in the 19th mile with a Muriuki surge and she never looked back, storming to her second marathon victory in three months after winning at Honolulu in December.

In the elite men’s category, Ethiopia’s Bayelign Teshager was the victor, finishing in 2:08:26.57. Kenya’s John Langat and Wilson “Mr. Amsterdam” Chebet finished in second and third place respectively.

Teshager, who was making his marathon debut, pulled away from Langat as they got to Ocean Avenue, opening a gap that Langat never closed to win the 35th Los Angeles Marathon.

The soft spoken Wilson Chebet, who is fondly called “Mr. Amsterdam” by his compatriots finished in third place, while Lani Rutto finished fourth.

Njeri Karago, Kenya Consul General of Kenya in Los Angeles was in attendance to cheer the Kenyan team.

Speaking to African Warrior Magazine after her victory, Ms. Muriuki admitted being awed at first by strong list of athletes participating in this year’s marathon, and quoting Eliud Kipchoge, noted that she had to go for the win because “no human is limited.”

For his part, Langat blamed the lack of pace setters for a slow race and hoped that in future events, organizers will consider bringing back the “rabbits.”