Mary Keitany wins the AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Award

The outstanding Kenyan athlete Mary Keitany has been awarded one of the most highly coveted accolades in world road running, the AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Award, during a ceremony on Thursday 6th May 2010 in Berlin, Germany.

AIMS Director Horst Milde presented the AIMS/ASICS Golden Shoe, an award from the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS), at a ceremony prior to the Big 25 Berlin event on Sunday 9th May.

Keitany becomes the first Kenyan woman to win the award since compatriot Catherine Ndereba in 2001.

The 28-year-old had an outstanding year in 2009, setting a new personal best of 32:09 in the World 10K Bangalore in May and winning the 2009 Lille Half Marathon with 1:07:00, the seventh fastest run of all-time over the distance.

Her run in Lille meant she had qualified for the 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Birmingham, a race which she won setting a new personal best of 1:06:36 and breaking the Championship record.

She also took a second gold as part of the winning Kenyan squad in the team competition - all just a year and three months after the birth of her son Jared.

The AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Awards were founded in 1992 and are decided each year from nominations made by the member races of the world body The Association of International Marathons & Distance Races (AIMS).

The membership totals some 300 races in over 90 countries covering every continent of the world.

Previous winners of the AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Award include Liz McColgan (Scotland), Uta Pippig (Germany), Tegla Loroupe (Kenya), Naoko Takahashi (Japan), Catherine Ndereba (Kenya) Paula Radcliffe (England), Mizuki Noguchi (Japan), Lornah Kiplagat (Netherlands) & Constantina Dita (Romania).

Hiroaki Chosa, World President of AIMS comments: "It is my pleasure to acknowledge today the significant achievements of Mary Keitany.

Mary had an exceptional year last year and proved that she is an athlete of the highest standard, therefore it is appropriate that Mary's talent should be recognised in this way on behalf of 300 members of AIMS from around the globe."

Mary Keitany comments: "It is a fantastic feeling to be honoured in this way, and to join a list of such esteemed winners is very special indeed and a great source of inspiration to me.

I would just like to say thank you to AIMS, ASICS and everyone involved. I am happy to be here in Berlin and I am looking forward to taking part in the 25K event."

More than 10,000 entries are expected for the 30th edition of the BIG 25 Berlin, which will also features a 10 k race, a 5×5 k relay and a children's event.

All events will finish on the blue track inside the famous Berlin Olympic Stadium, which saw the IAAF World Championships last summer.

Winners To Date