World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge was Tuesday named the LG/SJAK Sports Personality for the month of September at the LG Showroom in Eldoret.
Kipchoge won the award for the first time since its inception. The solo gong is meant to recognize and fete local sports personalities following their stellar performances in different fields of sports monthly.
Kipchoge admitted that its due to his hard work and consistency at the sport that made him earn the particular enviable recognition. Determination of the award’s winner is usually conducted by Kenya’s sports journalists.
“I am very happy and honoured to receive this special recognition from SJAK and LG. Winning this award once again is also a testament that we should always strive for more, there are no limits but rather everything is achieved through belief and determination. Breaking the world record in Berlin was very crucial for me as I wanted to inspire the human race,” Kipchoge said.
Kipchoge historically shattered his own previous record of 2:01:39 he set in the same city in 2018 to clinch his fourth Berlin Marathon title with 2:01:09 on the clock last month.
He equalled the record set by Ethiopian Haile great Gebreselassie who has the same number of wins in the Berlin marathon.
The double Olympic champion also extended his gratitude to his family and the technical team for enabling him reign supreme.
“I would also like to thank my family, my training mates and also my coach who have really supported me and whom without them I would not have achieved all these in my career,” he said.
LG East Africa content manager William Kimore termed Kipchoge as a good example and inspiration to many through sport.
“We at LG are very proud to associate with the accomplishments of Eliud who has really demonstrated that hard work and persistence pays with his record-breaking heroics. His mantra ‘No Human is Limited’ is a further inspiration to all of us that if we just push ourselves, we can achieve more than we have previously. We are thus happy today to award him this product as a token of appreciation and encourage him to continue pursuing his goals,” Kimore said.
Kipchoge took home a personalized trophy and an LG refrigerator that doubles up as a water dispenser and mount freezer.
Others in contention for the top award were Malkia Strikers’ Sharon Chepchumba who stole the show for the national team at the concluded World Volleyball Championships and top rally driver Karan Patel who bagged the Africa Rally Championships (ARC) Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally in Rwanda.
Commonwealth 5000m champion Beatrice Chebet, World 800m champion Emmanuel Korir, world 10,000m silver medalist Hellen Obiri and Former Hit Squad captain Nick Okoth were also shortlisted for the award.
