28 Apr 2012

Kenyan wins the Rotorua half marathon

2:19 pm on 28 April 2012

Kenyan runner Kip Kemei has won the Rotorua half marathon.

Kemei cleared out from the field just one kilometre into the 21-kilometre race, winning in a time of one hour, six minutes and 31 seconds.

Strong headwinds over the last half of the race slowed Kemei, but he finished well clear of the chasing field.

The Kenyan has now won both of his New Zealand races, taking out the Wellington Round the Bays half marathon in February. He plans to contest the Huntly half marathon in three weeks, looking for the treble.

Takapuna's Stephen Lett, the dominant New Zealand distance runner of the last two years, finished in second, ahead of Jonny McKee from Pakuranga.

Rebecca Forlong won the woman's half marathon from Michelle Hopkins, both from Auckland, while Cambridge's Katie Dawson was third.