Joseph Ngolepus

Joseph Ngolepus (born 10 April 1975) is a Kenyan former marathon runner who won the 2001 Berlin Marathon, and finished third at the 2003 London Marathon. He also won the 2003 CPC Loop Den Haag half marathon, the 2004 Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon, the 2006 Madrid Marathon, and the 2008 half marathon.

Personal life Ngolepus comes from the same region of Kenya as Tegla Loroupe.

Career Ngolepus started training in 1997 alongside Tegla Loroupe. He ran his first marathon in 1999, in a time of 2:16.

In 2003, Ngolepus won the CPC Loop Den Haag half marathon in a time of 1:00:56. The top six finishers in the race were Kenyan. Later in the year, he came third at the London Marathon, losing in a sprint by one second to Ethiopian Gezahegne Abera and Italy's Stefano Baldini. The top six finished within seven seconds of each other, making it the closest finish in London Marathon history. In 2004, he won the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon. The conditions were humid and windy, and Ngolepus' winning time of 2:11:04 was the slowest ever winning time at the event, and his split time for the last mile was 5:44.

In 2006, Ngolepus won the Madrid Marathon in a course record time of 2:11:30. The previous course record was 2:12:19, set by Tanzanian John Burra 15 years previously. In 2008, Ngolepus fled Kenya during the 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis, in order to compete at the Los Angeles Marathon. Later in the year, he won the half marathon race, in 1:01:24. In 2011, he was a pacemaker at the Vienna City Marathon, and dropped out of the race after . The race was won by Kenyan John Kiprotich.

Marathons According to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians, Ngolepus has competed in 31 marathons.