Catherine Ndereba announces retirement

Kenyan marathon superstar Catherine Ndereba announced her retirement from racing this week after the Kenya Prisons Athletics Championships.

The 41-year-old’s performances in recent years have not been nearly as quick as when she was at her peak during the early- and mid-2000s, but her retirement does mark the end to one of the most impressive female distance running careers ever.

Ndereba twice won the world championship marathon, finished second at two Olympics in the event, and is the only woman to ever win the Boston Marathon four times. Here marathon personal best is 2:18:47, which was the world record when she ran it at the 2001 Chicago Marathon, a record Paula Radcliffe broke one year later at the same event. Her time makes her the fourth-fastest female marathoner ever.

“I have done enough duty for my country and I am now handing over the baton to Edna Kiplagat and others to also play their part,” Ndereba told Kenyan media after her 10,000m race on Saturday, May 24. “I am optimistic of a smooth transition from the old guard to the current crop of newcomers because Kenya has an abundant pool of young talent,”

Many consider her to have been the best marathon runner ever. Although her record has been vastly eclipsed by Radcliffe, she remains one of the most decorated women the ever contest the event and rarely performed poorly at major championships. No woman has run more sub-2:30 marathons than Ndereba, who ran under the barrier 24 times. In Kenya she is known as “Catherine the Great.”