Rwanda’s athletics team head Coach Emmanuel Murenzi is content after a relatively good show from Rwanda’s top athletes in Sunday’s Kigali International Peace Marathon.

Murenzi told Times Sport yesterday that with improved training, local athletes will challenge their Kenyan counterparts who have dominated the marathon in recent years.

"Our athletes had very little training but still put up good performances. With an extensive training camp, they can challenge the region’s best,” Murenzi said.

Epiphanie Nyirabarame gave Rwandans something to smile about after a captivating run on Sunday. The two-time Olympian, by far the country’s top performer clocked one hour, 17 minutes and 38 minutes to finish second in the women’s half marathon in the just concluded Kigali International Peace marathon.

Sarah Ramadhani from Tanzania won the event with a time of one hour, 16 minutes and 55 seconds while Uganda’s Catherine Webombesa finished third.

Felix Ntirenganya, Rwanda’s top performer in the full marathon finished eighth after clocking 2:25:13.

Kenya dominated the top three slots. Benjamin Kipkosgei clocked 2:21:38 in first place while Nicolas Kipkemoi and Emmanuel Nabei finished in second and third places after clocking 2:22:08 and 2:22:32 respectively.

This year’s marathon attracted 3247 runners from Africa, Europe and North America.

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