James Kwambai
KENYA
BIRTHDATE:
February 28, 1983
PERSONAL BEST:
2:05:36 (Berlin, 2008)
WORLD MARATHON MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:
28Sep08 real,- Berlin Marathon 2nd 2:05:36
21Apr08 Boston Marathon 8th 2:15:52
04Nov07 ING New York City Marathon 5th 2:12:25
16Apr07 Boston Marathon 2nd 2:14:33
ADDITIONAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
15Oct06 Beijing Marathon 1st 2:10:36
30Apr06 Brescia Marathon 1st 2:10:20
CAREER NOTES:
A young half-marathon specialist, James Kwambai found success over the longer distance in 2006 winning the Brescia Marathon in Italy in April and then winning the Beijing Marathon in October. In the half marathon, he won the Virginia Beach Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in 1:03:30 and finished second at both the difficult San Blas Half Marathon and the Bogota International Half Marathon in 1:03:05.
In 2005 he won in Bogota, San Blas, and at the Roma-Ostia Half Marathon (1:00:45). In 2004 he set a personal best with a win at the City of Udine Half Marathon in 1:00:22. Additional half-marathon highlights include winning the 2003 Udine race in 1:00:38 and finishing runner-up in San Blas in 2003 and 2004.
At the 2007 Boston Marathon, Kwambai was the final challenger to eventual winner Robert Cheruiyot. He held on until the final water stop near 25 miles where he slowed to pick up a cup and Cheruiyot kept going and put 20 seconds of daylight between them.
He again finished behind Cheruiyot – and Haile Gebrselassie and Abdi Abdirahman – at the ING New York City Half-Marathon in August with a time of 1:01:03. Returning to the Big Apple in November, Kwambai picked up another WMM scoring point with a fifth place finish.
In February 2008, Kwambai equalled his half-marathon PR of 1:00:22 at the Maratonina Roma-Ostia. He returned to Boston in April and stayed with eventual winner Robert Cheruiyot until the nineteenth mile before fading to an eighth place finish.
Five months later at Berlin he shadowed Gebrselassie for 36 kilometers. While the great Ethiopian would eventually go on to run a world record 2:03:59, Kwambai reached the finish in 2:05:36, almost five minutes better than his previous PR. Kwambai became the seventh fastest man in history, posting the ninth best ever time.
PERSONAL NOTES:
Kwambai lives in Keiyo, Kenya but trains in Eldoret and Italy where he is coached by Doctor Gabriele Rosa and Claudio Berardelli.
