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A leading Kenyan runner surprised the masses when he stopped and waited for his competitors to join him at the Xiamen Marathon last Sunday.
The 2024 Xiamen Marathon in China was very peculiar from the start to the finish line with many athletes withdrawing from the race and some of the pre-race favourites not even showing up.
What stood out the most was a leading Kenyan runner, Benson Mutiso, stopping at 30.5 kilometres to wait for his competitors to catch up.
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Mutiso was looking very comfortable leading the pack and he was about 100m ahead at the 30km mark. However, instead of keeping up with the momentum, Mutiso shocked the masses after standing and looking back to await his competitors.
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He even strolled to the side to cheer on runners chasing him before re-joining the race at the back of the leading pack.
As reported by the Canadian Running Magazine, despite his role as a pacer being revealed later, many were still confused by Mutiso’s actions, since pacers don’t normally run far ahead of the field or try to win the race. He unfortunately ended up dropping off at the 33km mark.
Meanwhile, Mutiso has only competed in one marathon, the Hannover Marathon in Germany in 2023, where he finished eighth.
Another surprise in the race was the withdrawal of pre-race favourite, former half-marathon world record holder Kibiwott Kandie.
Kandie reportedly had problems with one of his sneakers, but it did not stop him from posing in pictures at 20K. Meanwhile, Ethiopian runner Ruti Aga had also signed up for the race but he unfortunately did not start.
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