Clemens, HarmBeat, KnechtleChristoph, Alexander RüstThomas, RosemannRomuald, LepersOnywera, V.O.2015-03-022015-03-022013Journal of Human Sport and Exercise vol 8 issue 4 20131988-5202http://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/34879/1/jhse_Vol_8_N_IV_881-893.pdfhttp://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/12335Harm, C., Knechtle, B., Rüst, A.C., Rosemann, T., Lepers, R. & Onywera, V. (2013). Performance of Kenyan athletes in mountain versus flat marathon running - An example in Switzerland. J. Hum. Sport Exerc., 8(4), pp.881-893. The purpose of this study was to compare running performance of Kenyans in a flat city marathon and a mountain marathon in Switzerland. Running times of top three overall Kenyan runners were compared with running times of top three overall runners of other nations in a mountain and a flat marathon held in Switzerland between 2003 and 2011. In the mountain marathon top three male Kenyans achieved with 199±23min the 11th fastest running time behind athletes from Italy (177±1min), Switzerland (179±0min), France (186±5min), Great Britain (189±3min), Mexico (189±3min), Germany (192±5min), Czech Republic (195±13min), Morocco (195±7min), USA (196±6min) and Hungary (198±8min). Female Kenyan athletes did not even participate in the mountain marathon. In the city marathon top three male Kenyan athletes achieved the second fastest running time (130±1min) behind Swiss athletes (129±1min), Kenyan female runners had the fifth fastest running time (158±4min) behind athletes from Russia (153±2min), Ethiopia (154±2min), Switzerland (155±2min) and Poland (155±4min). To summarize, in Switzerland, Kenyans achieved not the fastest running times in a mountain marathon while they attained the second fastest running times in flat marathon. KenEast AfricaAltitudeMountainLong-distance runArticle