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City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon): Information & Reviews | News |
 

Press Release - Los Angeles Marathon - 1/28/11

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

     Second LA Marathon Win Keys Life-Changing Year for Wesley Korir

   Back-to-back champion now a husband, father and professional athlete

LOS ANGELES, January 28, 2011 – Many people have used running, and races 
like the Honda LA Marathon presented by K-Swiss, to help change their lives 
for the better. It certainly did for two-time champion Wesley Korir.

"Things are a lot different now," he said during a two-day visit to Los 
Angeles ahead of the 26th edition of the race on March 20. "2010 was a 
really wild year for me, but I hope 2011 will be even better."

That would be something, since he started last year with his second 
consecutive win at the Carlsbad Half Marathon in January, then married his 
longtime girlfriend, Tarah McKay, just a week before winning his second 
straight Honda LA Marathon in March, then returned to his Louisville home 
and his job as a maintenance worker at the University of Louisville for 
about a week before resigning to become a full-time athlete.

Over the summer, he and Tarah left Louisville – where they had met when she 
was also a member of the school's track team (and a team captain for the 
women's cross country and track & field squads) – for her hometown of St. 
Clements, Ontario, Canada. And by September, he and Tarah welcomed their 
first child, a girl they decided to call McKayLA, named for her family name 
and adding "LA" in capital letters saluting his wins in the L.A. Marathon!

After a trip to Kenya over the holidays, Korir and his family returned to 
St. Clements, which is picturesque, but he notes that "it is really cold 
there."

Those are big changes from just two years ago, when Korir was essentially 
unknown. After running to a fourth-place finish in the 2008 Chicago 
Marathon after starting behind the elite runners, he earned a front-row 
slot for the 2009 Los Angeles race, but had no expectations of winning, 
saying afterwards "Studying the race, I just wanted to run a personal best, 
I thought my chances to win were zero. Starting the race I just planned to 
stay with these guys who have run faster than me."

Instead, he improved his lifetime best by more than five minutes and set a 
race record of 2:08:24 and won a stunning total of $160,000 in cash with 
the winner's prize of $20,000, a time bonus of $40,000 and $100,000 from 
winning the men vs. women Challenge, plus a 2009 Honda Accord EX-L 
($188,705 total). He joked with reporters after the race, saying "Yes, I 
know I'm in a much higher tax bracket now."

While in Kenya, Korir had a chance to meet with 2010 women's winner Edna 
Kiplagat, whose own experience mirrored Korir's in how the Honda LA 
Marathon changed their lives.

"When we got talking about life, and Edna was telling me how much she had 
struggled trying to get into running, and she had reached the point of 
giving up. And the L.A. Marathon definitely changed her life; it gave her 
motivation to run more and gave her motivation even to train more because 
when she won here, she goes 'I can really do this.'

"She was really talking highly about the L.A. Marathon; me, too, when we 
got talking, I was telling her about how the L.A. Marathon really changed 
my life and started me off to where I've been, because we all need 
something, we need a chance and the L.A. Marathon gave both of us a chance 
to re-discover our talents and it was really amazing the way she was really 
talking highly about the L.A. Marathon. It was the last chance she had, the 
only chance. She said she tried to get into races, but she couldn't get in 
any races; the only race that would her in was the L.A. Marathon, so she 
talks high of the L.A. Marathon and the chance."

Korir noted that "Running the L.A. Marathon is one of my goals; I really 
want to run in the L.A. Marathon as far as I can do it. But also one thing 
that I want to do in my life is try to help the poor. I feel like there are 
three ways that I always think about fighting poverty in Kenya.

"One of them is through education, by providing them with education, the 
young people with education. With me, if it wasn't for education – I was 
born in a poor family – I wouldn't be where I am right now, conversing with 
you and talking about this. The one thing I want to provide for people is a 
chance, giving someone a second chance or a last chance to be able to 
redeem themselves through education, the way to L.A. Marathon did to me, 
and to Edna, providing us with a chance to express ourselves.

"Also through health care, by building a hospital. Right now, I am doing a 
project of finishing up a Mission hospital in my area; [U.S. marathon star] 
Ryan Hall is helping me raise money for that. You can go to 
TheStepsFoundation.org, and then you go to 26.2 Challenge; we are trying to 
use that for the hospital project. I really want to do that because of 
where I came from. My brother was killed by snakebite when I was young 
because of the lack of health care and lack of hospital availability; he 
wasn't able to make it to the nearest hospital because it was really far 
away.

"Another thing I want to do is help the poor through making them 
self-sufficient, providing them with capital, those who are able to do 
farming, providing them with capital to start themselves off, support 
themselves in the future and support their families. If we can combine all 
those, I feel like we can really fight poverty well in Kenya."

For the March 20 race, however, he has shorter-term goals. "I need a 
Macintosh computer. My agent [Karen Locke] has offered me a deal: she told 
me if I run 2:07 in the marathon, she is going to buy me a new 
Macintosh...I've never owned a Macintosh computer before, but my computer 
now is not working well, so that's what I am going for."

                                  ###

 

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