Vincent Kipruto Limo (born 13 September 1987) is a Kenyan long distance runner who specialises in the marathon. He made his debut in the event in 2008 and won the Paris Marathon a year later. He then placed top three at the Chicago Marathon and the Rotterdam Marathon (where he ran a personal best of 2:05:13 hours).
Born in the south of Kenya's Keiyo District, Kipruto was the eldest child in his family. His family had their own cattle and he often ran uphill to bring them water. He was inspired by the achievements of William Kiplagat, a marathon runner who lived locally, and Kipruto began representing his school in the 10,000 metres. He was academically focused as a child and even though he began to train with Colm O' Connell's group, he did not take up running full-time until he had finished his KCSE examinations. Impressed by his performances at the provincial championships, Kiplagat offered to become Kipruto's coach and mentor. Kipruto travelled to the Netherlands in 2007 to compete professionally for the first time and he won a series of road races.[1]
He made his debut over the marathon distance at the 2008 Reims Marathon, recording a time of 2:08:16 for third place. He began his 2009 season with a fourth-place finish at the Egmond Half Marathon in a time of 1:06:01.[2] He was part of a strong field of runners for the 2009 Paris Marathon and he surprised the race favourites by winning in a course record time of 2:05:47, breaking Michael Rotich's six-year-old record by over 45 seconds. This established him as the thirteenth fastest runner over the distance at the time.[3] After this he won the Giro Podistico Internazionale race in Castelbuono, Italy, dispatching Duncan Kibet among others.[4] He was invited to the Chicago Marathon and managed to finish third, recording 2:06:08 to place behind Abderrahim Goumri and Samuel Wanjiru (who set a new course record).[5]
He opened the 2010 season with a run at the Zayed International Half Marathon and although he set a half marathon best of 1:01:43, he finished out of contention in eleventh place.[6] Running at the Rotterdam Marathon, he again improved his marathon best with a time of 2:05:13 making him the tenth fastest runner over the distance at the time. However, this was only enough for third as rivals Patrick Makau and Geoffrey Mutai both ran under 2:05:00.[7] He returned to the Giro Podistico race in Sicily that year but could not defend his title and finished in third place as Zersenay Tadese went on to win.[8] An appearance at the 2010 Chicago Marathon resulted in a fifth-place finish in a time of 2:09:08, a mark below his best form.[9]
