(05/03/2007)

Kenyan Steven Kamar has led his team Kericho to overall victory in the Standard Chartered's ‘Greatest Race on Earth’ (GROE) 2006/07 and a US$400,000 first prize, after winning the final leg of the series in Hong Kong.

Kamar won the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, the final leg of the four-marathon team relay series, in 2:17:03 to overturn a 44 second deficit on previous leaders Marathon Centre Kericho, lifting his team into first place with a cumulative time of 9:08:41.

GROE is a relay of four marathons in the cities of Nairobi, Singapore, Mumbai and Hong Kong. The series sees athletes take on some of the world's most challenging running conditions – including altitude, heat, humidity and steep inclines.

Athletes compete in teams of four, running one marathon each, working together to strive for the fastest cumulative time. The prize pool on offer, US$1.5 million, is the largest in world athletics.

Kamar said: "This victory has already changed my life. It was very close, I was just looking at Marathon Centre Kericho’s runner all the time - all I wanted to do was defeat him by more than 44 seconds."

Paul Bor, brother of last year’s Hong Kong Marathon winner Simon Bor, distinguished himself with third place in the marathon today - finishing second in the Main Team Challenge and winning US$195,000 for his team Marathon Centre Kericho.

Paul Bor in fact formed the team himself, using money he won as a member of last year’s Nations Challenge winners Kenya to fund the team’s travel and preparation.

A solid team effort from Akaki runner Patrick Kimeli maintained their third position, assuring them a place on the podium and a US$125,000 prize.

Francis Bowen finished second in the marathon overall with a time of 2:17:19 to lift Team Gowar into a prize-winning position, from sixth to fourth place (US$75,000).

Moses Arusei finished with a time of 2:22:18 for PACE Sports Management to take the fifth and final prize for the Main Team Challenge (US$50,000).

Women’s Challenge winners Cyclone have dominated the competition since the first leg in Nairobi, breaking records along the way.

Entering the Hong Kong leg, their runner Jane Ekimat already had a 19 minute lead ahead of nearest rivals Run for Peace who were being represented by Mary Ptikany.

Cyclone won the US$100,000 first prize and a further bonus of US$20,000 for achieving a women’s series record of 10:22:27. Ekimat’s second place time of 2:39:33 was enough to convincingly hold first place for Cyclone.

Rose Kerubo won the marathon with a time of 2:38:19, maintaining her team Grazy Girls’ third place in the Women’s Challenge, just 22 seconds behind second place.

That position was clinched for Run for Peace by Mary Ptikany’s third place in the marathon with a time of 2:40:13.

Marathon winner Kerubo said: "I'm very happy. The race was very good, but it was difficult as the weather was very humid and the route was very hilly."

The Nations Challenge was won by Kenya for the third year running, having faced close competition from local rivals Zimbabwe and Uganda throughout the series.

In doing so, they became the first team to be awarded the 9 carat, 300 gram solid Gold Baton trophy which was introduced for this series and specially commissioned to be awarded to the winning national team.

The Gold Baton will be engraved with Kenya ’s name, and the team will also receive and keep a replica.  

Their final leg athlete Edward Kiprotich Muge was paced and supported throughout the marathon by team-mate Sammy Karanja, who ran for the team in the first leg in Nairobi and flew to Hong Kong especially for this purpose.

An elated Karanja said after the race: "Whilst Nairobi is challenging because of the number of talented Kenyan competitors, this marathon is difficult because of the humidity and hills. We are very happy and honoured to win this competition."

In the six regional competitions within the Nations Challenge, there were some exciting battles won and lost, with US$50,000 at stake in each region.

In particular, in the South Asia region, Ajith Bandara’s time of 2:25:11 converted India’s deficit of nearly four minutes behind Sri Lanka into victory by a margin of just 14 seconds.

Bandara said: "I prepared well for this race for three months. The course was very good for 35km but after that there are many ups and downs on the road. Finally though, I came through it and did well for my team."

Similarly in Europe & Oceania, Denmark’s athlete Jeppe Farsoeht overcame a five minute disadvantage from Australia to claim victory by a mere 28 seconds.

Thailand were another team who came from behind, with a heroic performance from Boonchoo Jandacha clinching first place in the South East Asia region, and overcoming a 16 minute deficit to long-time leaders Indonesia. Jandacha said:

"Running solo requires personal effort but running as a team requires co-operation and encouraging each other to victory.

"I feel proud to be a part of this international race and I'm grateful to GROE for giving me a chance in this world class marathon series."

And in other regions, Kenya (Africa), Taiwan (North East Asia) and Mexico ( Americas ) successfully defended their leads to claim victory. Hong Kong ’s Lai Hok Yan ran a solid time of 2:37:01 for his team and said after the marathon: "The first and last races have the most pressure out of the four, and I got great support from the crowd being in my home city."

In a new award for this year’s series, Mauritius became the first recipients of the Most Improved Nations Team Award, having beaten their 2005/06 cumulative time by 2:39:07.

Greatest Race on Earth Final Standings (provisional) – After Leg 4: Hong Kong Marathon

Main Team Challenge (open to all teams)

Women’s Challenge (open to all-women teams)

Nations Challenge (Open to National Associations only)

Nations Challenge – Regions

Special awards

Standard Chartered has also introduced awards to recognise special achievements.

Amongst these is a US$15,000 award for the team who improves most on their 2005/06 cumulative time, and a US$20,000 pool to recognise those teams that overcome obstacles to complete the series.

The Greatest Race on Earth (GROE) was created in 2004 – the first-ever virtual relay race across four marathons.

The Main Team Challenge category is open to men and women over 18 years of age, of any nationality, with no restriction on the level of competence.

Each team member will run in one marathon. Teams must nominate who will run in each full marathon before the start of the series, and the winning team will be the one whose athletes record the lowest aggregate time across the four marathons.