Joseph Ngolepus

Ngolepus comes from the same region of Kenya as Tegla Loroupe.^[1] He has four children.^[2]

Ngolepus started training in 1997 alongside Tegla Loroupe.^[1] He ran his first marathon in 1999, in a time of 2:16.^[1] In 2000, he came fourth at the Rotterdam Marathon in a time of 2:08:49.^[1]

Ngolepus entered the 2001 Berlin Marathon as a pacemaker for fellow Kenyans Willy Cheruiyot Kipkirui and William Kiplagat. After 25 kilometres (16 mi) of the race, he decided to try and race for the victory instead.^[1] He eventually won, with Cheruiyot second.^[1] His finishing time was 2:08:47.^[1][3]

In 2003, Ngolepus won the CPC Loop Den Haag half marathon in a time of 1:00:56. The top six finishers in the race were Kenyan.^[4] Later in the year, he came third at the London Marathon, losing in a sprint by one second to Ethiopian Gezahegne Abera and Italy's Stefano Baldini.^[5][6][7] The top six finished within seven seconds of each other, making it the closest finish in London Marathon history.^[8] In 2004, he won the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon. The conditions were humid and windy, and Ngolepus' winning time of 2:11:04 was the slowest ever winning time at the event, and his split time for the last mile was 5:44.^[2] In 2005, Ngolepus came second at the Berlin Half Marathon behind fellow Kenyan Paul Kimugul.^[9]

In 2006, Ngolepus won the Madrid Marathon in a course record time of 2:11:30. The previous course record was 2:12:19, set by Tanzanian John Burra 15 years previously.^[10] In 2008, Ngolepus fled Kenya during the 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis, in order to compete at the Los Angeles Marathon.^[11] Later in the year, he won the Paderborn Easter Run [de] half marathon race, in 1:01:24.^[12] In 2011, he was a pacemaker at the Vienna City Marathon, and dropped out of the race after 30 kilometres (19 mi). The race was won by Kenyan John Kiprotich.^[13]

According to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians, Ngolepus has competed in 31 marathons.^[14]