Cynthia Jerotich Limo (born 18 December 1989) is a Kenyan female

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

who competes mainly in

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ru ...

competition. She has the silver medallist at the

IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The World Athletics Road Running Championships is a biennial international road running competition organised by World Athletics. The competition was launched as the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1992 and held annually until 2010. It wa ...

in 2016. Her

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

personal best of 66:04 minutes, set in 2016, ranks her as the fourth fastest woman ever for the distance.

Career

Limo had her first successful locally at the 2009

Baringo 15K The Baringo Half Marathon is an annual road running competition for men and women over the half marathon distance which takes place every December in Baringo County, Baringo, Kenya. The programme previously had a 15 kilometres race for women, but t ...

, where she placed third. The following year she ran at the

Kenyan Cross Country Championships The Kenyan Cross Country Championships is an annual cross country running competition that serves as the national championship for Kenya. It is organised by Athletics Kenya and has permit race status from the International Association of Athletics ...

, but was far down the field, finishing 46th. It was on the roads of France that she began to establish herself as a high calibre runner. She had top three finishes at the 2010 Nancy Half Marathon and 20 Kilomètres de Paris. She continued to focus on French races in the two subsequent years. Her first win came at the 20 Km de Tours in 2011 and in 2012 she marked her progress with a win at the Humarathon half marathon in a best of 70:06 minutes and a win at the Paris 20K in 65:36 minutes.Cynthia Cherotich Limo

Association of Road Racing Statisticians The Association of Road Racing Statisticians is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics regarding road running races. The primary purpose of the ARRS is to maintain a valid list of world road record ...

. Retrieved on 2016-03-26. Limo gave her first sub-70-minute performance to win at the 2013 Rabat Half Marathon. She finished in top two of all her road races that year, bar a third-place finish at the Humarathon. She won the Saint Denis Marathon and was runner-up at the Paris 20K and the

Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale The Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale is an annual half marathon which follows a course from Marseille to Cassis in France during the last weekend in October. It has the silver label of the IAAF Road Race Label Events and is thus among th ...

. She moved on from the French circuit in the 2014 season, starting with a win at the Madrid Half Marathon then a highly successful tour of American races which included numerous podium finishes, among them wins at the

Steamboat Classic The Steamboat Classic is a running race featuring 4 mile and 15K events in Peoria, Illinois. In 2019, the race drew about 1100 participants. The four-mile race has been described as the world's fastest. The world best times for both men and women ...

Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon Grandma's Marathon (Grandma's) is an annual road race held each June in Duluth, Minnesota, in the United States. The course runs point-to-point from the city of Two Harbors on Scenic Route 61 and continues along Lake Superior into the city of ...

and runner-up finishes at the Crim 10-Miler and

Boston Half Marathon Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a ...

, setting a new best of 68:24 minutes at the latter. She had her first win on home turf at the Baringo Half Marathon in November. The 2015 season proved to be the year in which Limo moved into the global elite of half marathon running. She made the top three at the

Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon is an annual half marathon held on Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. History The first event, in 2007, saw Samuel Wanjiru breaking the world record, but Wanjiru himself set a new world record o ...

and her best of 67:02 minutes ranked her as the fifth fastest woman in the world that year. She was the Hy-Vee half marathon winner associated with the

Drake Relays The Drake Relays is an outdoor track and field event held in Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa, in Drake Stadium (Drake University), Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University. Billed as ''America's Athletic Classic'', it is regarded as one ...

, was runner-up in Boston and at the

Luanda Half Marathon Luanda ( ) is the capital and largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport, an ...

, then topped the field at the

Delhi Half Marathon Delhi Half Marathon, currently branded as the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual half marathon foot-race held in New Delhi, India. Established in 2005, it is both an elite runner and mass participation event. It is ...

. Her success in American continued with wins at the

Cooper River Bridge Run The Cooper River Bridge Run is a one-way road running event across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge held in the cities of Mount Pleasant and Charleston in South Carolina, on the first Saturday in April (had been first Sunday of April in 1978, fi ...

Lilac Bloomsday Run The Lilac Bloomsday Run, also known as Bloomsday, is an annual timed road race in the northwest United States, held on the first Sunday of May since 1977 in The course length is 12 km (7.456 mi). The run had over 38,000 participants every ...

and second-place finishes at the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler,

Freihofer's Run For Women The Delightful® Run for Women (formerly Freihofer's Run for Women) is an annual five-kilometer road running competition for women that is usually held in late May or early June in Albany, New York, United States. First held in 1979, the race has ...

and Utica Boilermaker. The Houston Half Marathon was Limo's first race of 2016 and a duel with

Mary Wacera Ngugi Mary Wacera Ngugi (born 17 December 1988) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in road running events. She holds personal bests of 66:29 minutes for the half marathon, 30:50 minutes for the 10K run, and 2:27:36 for the marathon. As a juni ...

led to very fast times, with Limo in second place at 66:41 minutes meaning she moved up to eleventh on the all-time list for women's half marathon. A month later she improved even further to 66:04 minutes at the Ras Al Khaimah race – a time which made her the third fastest woman ever for the distance. She gained selection for the

2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships took place on 26 March 2016 in Cardiff, United Kingdom. It was the 22nd edition of the event and the 4th in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, comm ...

as a result – her first international call-up – and was among the favourites, alongside Ngugi. In the race held in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

the five-woman Kenyan team formed the majority of the early leaders. After the halfway point only Limo, Ngugi and

Peres Jepchirchir Peres Jepchirchir (born 27 September 1993) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who competes mainly in road running competitions. She won the gold medal in the women's marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Jepchirchir was the champion a ...

remained. Limo was beaten in a

sprint finish In sport, sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves :wikt:traverse, traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed ...

by the less experienced Jepchirchir. The trio earned the Kenyan women the team title and Limo helped complete a podium sweep with Jepchirchir and Ngugi.Mulkeen, Jon (2016-03-26)
Report: women's race – IAAF/Cardiff University World Half Marathon Championships Cardiff 2016
IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-03-26.

International competitions

Road race wins

: 2016 *

: 2015 * Parkersburg Half Marathon: 2014 *

: 2014 *

Baringo Half Marathon The Baringo Half Marathon is an annual road running competition for men and women over the half marathon distance which takes place every December in Baringo, Kenya. The programme previously had a 15 kilometres race for women, but this was extend ...

: 2014 * Madrid Half Marathon: 2014 *

Saint Denis Half Marathon In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Ortho ...

: 2013 * Rabat Half Marathon: 2013 * Humarathon half marathon: 2012 *

Annecy Half Marathon Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed the "Pe ...

: 2012 *

Paris-Versailles Road Race The Paris-Versailles Race (''Course Paris-Versailles'', also known as ''La Grande Classique'') is a pedestrian race that takes place between Paris and Versailles in France, every year on the last Sunday morning of September. Organized by Paris- ...

: 2012 *

20K de Paris K, or k, is the eleventh letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''kay'' (pronounced ), plural ''kays''. The letter ...

: 2012 *

12K: 2015 *

10K: 2015 *

4-miler: 2014 * Buffalo 4-Mile Chase: 2014

Personal bests

10K run The 10K run is a long-distance road running competition over a distance of . Also referred to as the 10K road race, 10 km, or simply 10K, it is one of the most common types of road running event, alongside the shorter 5K and longer half ...

– 31:08 min (2015) *

Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

– 66:04 min (2016)

References

External links

*
All Athletics profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jerotich Limo, Cynthia Living people 1989 births Kenyan female long-distance runners 21st-century Kenyan sportswomen