Catherine Ndereba, born on July 21, 1972 in Gatunganga in the Nyeri District, Kenya, is a world-class marathon runner. She started her career in running during her childhood days when she went to the Ngorano Secondary School. Her brother, Samuel Ndereba, and sister, Anastasia Ndereba, are also well-known marathon runners. Catherine Ndereba married her college sweetheart, Anthony Maina, and they are currently living with their daughter Jane in Naibori, Kenya.
She was recruited in 1994 by the Kenya Prisons Service to be a prison guard. After serving for seven months, she quit in 1995 to represent her country at the women's relay race in Seoul, Korea. Later that year, Catherine Ndereba set a personal record of 31 minutes and 35 seconds in the 10K Run at the Richard S. Caliguiri/City of Pittsburgh Great Race. In 1996, she participated in 18 races and won 13 of them. She was ranked second by the United States of America Track and Field’s (USATF) World Road Running Rankings. In both 1996 and 1998, she was also recognized as the Road Runner of the Year by Runner’s World and Road Racer of the Year by Running Times. In 1998, Catherine Ndereba won an individual bronze and team gold at the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championship, which was held in Palermo, Italy. She won the 10K Run at the Richard S. Caliguiri/City of Pittsburgh Great Race, beating Libbie Hickman, an American marathoner, with a time of 32 minutes and 11 seconds.
In 2000, Catherine Ndereba finished first in the Boston Marathon, and in 2002, she ranked second in the Chicago Marathon. In 2003, she displayed her inexhaustible stamina when she was the first to cross the finish line after running non-stop for 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 55 seconds at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics, which were held in Saint-Denis, France. During that same year, she drew even more attention by winning the New York City Marathon and London Marathon in second place. On August 22, 2004, Catherine Ndereba won a silver medal for her participation in the women’s marathon in Athens, Greece, at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She then went on to finish first in the Boston Marathon in both 2004 and 2005. Catherine Ndereba earned a silver medal at the World Championships in Athletics held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland. In 2006, she won the Osaka International Ladies Marathon held in Japan. Catherine Ndereba struck gold yet again at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, where she beat Zhou Chunxiu, a Chinese marathoner, by 8 seconds. During the 2008 Summer Olympics held at Beijing, China, she ran for 2 hours, 26 minutes, and 6 seconds, which earned her another Olympic silver medal.
Apart from being a marathon world-champ, Catherine Ndereba is also a devoted mother and a wife. She balances her family life with her marathon career quite effectively. Catherine Ndereba believes that her family is the source of her strength, and she has only to gain from their support.
