Kenyan wins 41st Peace Race in Youngstown; 1,500 take part

Staff report

Another week, another city race to take over.

A week after winning the Columbus Marathon, Kenyan Julius Koskei cruised to victory as the overall winner of Sunday’s 41st Peace Race, crossing the finish line at Federal and Market Streets with a time of 28:56.74.

The 33-year-old bested a fellow Kenyan 11 years his junior, Nicholas Too, by about 25 seconds.

“I’m very thankful and I hope I can come to this race next year, it was very good,” Koskei said.

On the women’s side, 21-year-old Kenyan Monicah Ngige was the overall winner, clocking in at 33:09.97.

She won her seventh road race in the U.S. and set a new career-best 10k time, shaving 31 seconds off a record she set in Nairobi earlier this year.

Koskei made his Youngstown debut and gave a mostly positive reaction to the course. He enjoyed that it was mostly downhill and in wooded country-like setting of Mill Creek Park.

About 1,500 participated in the Peace Race.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.