Mbishei to help his Kenyan mates

“We are a group of 25, out of which four came to Europe to compete in races (under coach Ricky Simms). I will use this money to help my training mates back home,” said Mbishei, who picked up a cheque for $21,000 on Sunday.

The 19-year-old Kenyan said he was thrilled with his performance. “This was a very tough race, with the likes of Merga and Kipsiro in the field. But the course was nice, I felt strong and at eight kilometres, I was confident of victory,” he said.

Mbishei said he adopted front-running ways after getting fed up with second-place finishes. “Earlier, I was coming second most of the time. Today, I was praying to God to let me win this one. I lacked a good finish earlier but I have improved it now,” said Mbishei, who hails from the high-altitude region of Mount Elgon.

The Kenyan said his plan was simple. “You have to go with the best initially. Along the way, you learn from them and in the end, if you still have the strength, you go for a win.”
The weather was cool during the early part of the race but it did get warmer later on. “It wasn’t bad, it was a little bit hotter than what I was expecting but it was okay,” said Mbishei, who will now target the African Championships. “I want to do well there and then aim for the Commonwealth Games.”

Moses Kipsiro, who finished second, acknowledged Mbishei’s superiority. “I am happy with the second place. I did try to catch up with Titus but he proved stronger than me. I will prepare well next year and hopefully, I can win here,” said the Ugandan.Defending champion Deriba Merga of Ethiopia, who reached the city only on Saturday evening, finished fourth and blamed it on being stranded at the Dubai airport for 11 hours en route to Bangalore. “I was very, very tired,” said Merga.