Samuel Muturi Mugo

Samuel Muturi Mugo (born 2 May 1986) is a Kenyan athlete who specialises in long distance running, particularly the marathon. He also competes under the name Sammy Mugo.

Mugo moved to Japan to become a professional athlete and began participating in senior competitions in 2003. He started out as a 5000 and 10,000 metres track runner and finished in the top three in the Shizuoka International 10,000 m from 2003–2005, improving his best time every year.[1][2][3] He began competing in longer road races from 2005 onwards, breaking into the top ten at the 2005 Sapporo Half Marathon,[4] and running as part of the winning Konica Minolta team at the All-Japan Corporate Team Ekiden Championships.[5] The following year he took sixth place at the Sapporo race and set a personal best of at the Marugame Half Marathon.[6][7] He made his marathon debut at the Hamburg Marathon and, although strong in the first half of the race, he faded away in the latter stages and finished in twelfth place.[8] He improved at the Cologne Marathon and recorded a best of 2:11:27 to take second place behind Daniel Kirwa Too.[9]

He focused on just marathoning in 2008: he recorded a personal best at the Tiberias Marathon and was rewarded with his first ever win at the Porto Marathon in another personal record.[10] He built upon this in 2009 by winning the Xiamen International Marathon in a course record time,[11] taking second place in the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon,[12] and recording a new best of 2:08:20 to win the Beijing Marathon.[13] The next marathon he entered was the Boston Marathon in 2010, but he failed to finish as bronchial trouble forced him out of the race at the 25 km mark.[14] Poor weather affected his attempt to defend his Beijing title and he finished sixth in one of the slowest races of the course's history.[15] He returned again the following year and in spite of a slow start, he pulled back into second place and clocked a time of 2:09:43 hours behind Francis Kiprop.[16]

Personal bests

Surface Event Time (h:m:s) Venue Date
Track 5000 m 13:24.92 Nobeoka, Japan 27 May 2006
10,000 m 27:35.55 Kobe, Japan 24 April 2005
Road 15 km 43:56 Sapporo, Japan 9 July 2006
20 km 59:08 Marugame, Japan 5 February 2006
Half marathon 1:02:06 Azpeitia, Spain 28 March 2009
Marathon 2:08:20 Beijing, China 18 October 2009

References

  1. ^ 10,000 Metres 2003. IAAF (2004-02-17). Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  2. ^ Nakamura, Ken (2004-05-06). Japanese track season so far…. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  3. ^ Nakamura, Ken (2005-05-04). Sawano 5.83 Pole Vault and Wanjiru 27:08.00 10,000m - highlight Shizuoka. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  4. ^ Nakamura, Ken (2005-07-03). Ndereba and Mogusu victorious at Sapporo Half Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  5. ^ Nakamura, Ken (2005-01-01). Konica-Minolta win final stage battle in Maebashi. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  6. ^ Nakamura, Ken (2006-07-09). Noguchi wins in Sapporo as Ndereba's challenge never materalizes. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  7. ^ Biography Samuel Mutiri Mugo. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  8. ^ Wenig, Jörg (2007-04-29). Rop outsprints Kigen as three dip under 2:08 in Hamburg. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  9. ^ Wenig, Jörg (2007-10-07). Mockenhaupt wins in Cologne in 2:29:33 debut marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  10. ^ Fernandes, Antonio Manuel (2008-10-26). Mugo takes Porto Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  11. ^ Cartier, Cyrille (2009-01-03). Muturi cruises to 2:08:51 course record in Xiamen. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  12. ^ Cruz, Dan (2009-06-01). Gromova defends marathon title in San Diego. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  13. ^ Yung, Jean (2009-10-18). Bai and Mugo take Beijing Marathon titles. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-20.
  14. ^ Butcher, Pat (2010-10-22). Sammy Mugo aiming for Beijing Marathon title defence. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-10-23.
  15. ^ Butcher, Pat (2010-10-24). Ethiopian Siraj takes victory in rain soaked Beijing. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-10-23.
  16. ^ Jalava, Mirko (2011-10-16). Kiprop and Wei Xiaojie triumph in Beijing. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-10-17.

External links