Former marathon World Record holder, Patrick Makau, has called it quits and gone into early retirement.
A recurrent patella tendon injury has forced the 33-year-old Makau, who won Berlin Marathon twice; in 2010 and in 2011 with a World Record time of 2:03:38.
“I know this is the right time to say it is enough,” said Makau in an emotional statement on Wednesday.
Makau, who ran his maiden marathon in Rotterdam in 2009 finishing fourth, said with age catching up and a persistent patella-tendon injury forced him to withdraw from last year’s Boston and Berlin marathons.
Makau an Administration Police (A) officer opined that failure to embrace physio work and strength and conditioning early enough during his career is perhaps what led to the slow recovery with injuries.
He regretted that he is leaving a sport that rescued him from extreme poverty as it was able to put food on his table and sustain his livelihood.
“I had a wonderful career as an athlete, a career which profoundly changed me, allowing me to grow and to make positive impact on lives of my family and our community,” said Makau, the 2007 World Half Marathon champion.
The marathoner has now turned his focus to coaching with a view of developing and guiding the next generation of distance runners at his Ngong training base.
Makau, who started his road running career with victory at the 2005 Zanzibar Half Marathon, paid tribute to the late Danish coach Zane Branson saying he was instrumental to his running my career and to his Adidas Running team led by Spencer Nel.
He also expressed his gratitude to Berlin Marathon race director Mark Milde his London Marathon counterpart David Bedford and Frankfurt Marathon race director Jo Schindler among others for the opportunity.
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