Kenyan Kip Kemei, the first Kenyan to take part in one of the Rotorua Marathon events, took out the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust Half Marathon today.
Kemei cleared out from the field just one kilometre into the 21 kilometre race, winning in a time 66 minutes 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.
The winner of the woman's half marathon was Rebecca Forlong from Michelle Hopkins, both from Auckland and Katie Dawson from Cambridge.
