Spira Triumphs in Switzerland!
April/May 2009
Spira Debuts in Switzerland with a Double Win at the Grand Prix Bern 10 Miler and Lausanne 20K
Saturday, April 18, 2009 -- John Mwangangi from Kenya won the M20 category and overall men's classification of one of Switzerland's largest and most prestigious road races, the Grand Prix of Bern in the Spira Stinger and Spira racing outfit.
The 19-year old completed the 10 mile course (16.093 K) in 47:41 with 14:03 and 29:07 intermediate times for 5K and 10K respectively. This was a Personal Best and ranks him 11th on the IAAF World List for this year.
Jana Muia--also from Kenya and last years winner--won this year's edition in the W20 and overall women's category in Spira Stingers and racing outfit with a final time of 55:52.
John Mwangangi and Jana Muia of Team Spira Both Set New Course Records and Win the "20K of Lausanne"
Saturday, April 25, 2009--The two winners of the Grand Prix in Berne, John and Jana, also both won the respective main category and overall race at the "20km de Lausanne" in the western part of Switzerland, which features roughly 17,000 runners in various categories.
John Mwangangi (19) established a new course record of 1.00.29. The Kenyan dominated the 20 K of Lausanne and was more than 1 minute ahead of the Eritrean Girma Tsige. It was the first participation of the 19 year old Kenyan in the 20k of Lausanne. He was the great favorite to win the race after coming off his spectacular recent win at the Grand Prix of Bern last week.
On the Women's side, Jana Muia, who also came off of a win at the Grand Prix in Bern, also set a course record of 1.09.56 for the 20K. She stayed 23 seconds ahead of the Ethiopian Askale Marachi. Third place went to Maya Chollet, the winner from 2008.
Congratulations to Team Spira for such spectacular wins! This marks the first appearance of the Spira line in Switzerland.