Caroline Rotich

Who is Caroline Rotich?

Caroline Rotich Cheptanui is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in half marathon and marathon races. She has won the Las Vegas Marathon and the New York Half Marathon. She represented Kenya at the World Championships in Athletics in 2011 and has a personal bests of 2:27:06 hours for the marathon and 1:09:09 hours for the half marathon.

Born in Nyahururu, she gained a sports scholarship in Japan at Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School – an institution known for long-distance running. She began competing in Europe after graduating and won the 2004 Diecimiglia del Garda in Italy and the Semi-marathon Marvejols-Mende in 2005. She made her debut over the marathon distance in 2006 at the Nairobi Marathon, finishing in eleventh place. She moved to the United States to train and became based there full-time.

In May 2008, she won the Ogden Newspapers 20K and came fourth at the Bay to Breakers 12K. A month later she ran a half marathon best of 74:40 minutes for second at Grandma's Marathon and won the Hospital Hill Half Marathon.