NYRR Media Center

Last November, Sharon Lokedi won the TCS New York City Marathon in her marathon debut, pulling away in the final two miles to finish in 2:23:23 to become the eighth athlete to win the race in their true 26.2-mile debut.

In preparation for the marathon, Lokedi raced the United Airlines NYC Half in March and the Mastercard New York Mini 10K in May, finishing fourth and second, respectively, in those races.

Lokedi grew up in Kenya’s Kalenjin tribe as the oldest of four children, and it was a long journey to the University of Kansas in the U.S. When she was 14, following the Kenyan presidential election results, her family fled their home village of Burnt Forest, which became the center of the Kenyan crisis and violence due to the population’s conflicting loyalties. For a month, her family lived in silence and in fear with no shelter nor steady source of food or possessions. After the conflict ended, they returned to their home safely, and that’s when Lokedi started running three to four kilometers to and from school each day.

She improved her running so much over the next few years, attending camps and working with coaches, that she was recruited by the University of Kansas, where she studied nursing and competed in track and cross country from 2015 to 2019. She was a 10-time All-American at Kansas and won the 10,000-meter NCAA title in 2018. She then went on to win her first race as a pro, taking the Carlsbad 5K title in 15:38.

Keeping her ties to her native Kenya, Lokedi has recently built a running foundation at the famed Kapkenda Girls High School.