Benson Barus

Benson Kipchumba Barus (born 4 July 1980) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in marathon and half marathon competitions. He has a personal best of 2:07:07 hours for the distance, set at the 2011 Prague Marathon, which he won. He also won the 2009 Turin Marathon and has placed top three in Rome, Beijing and Chuncheon.

He was the 10,000 metres World Junior Champion in 1998. Based in Italy, working with Federico Rosa and Claudio Berardelli, Barus has won numerous road races in the country, including the Giro di Castelbuono, Giro Media Blenio, Udine Half Marathon and Roma-Ostia Half Marathon. His best for the half marathon is 59:41 minutes.

Born in Nakuru, capital of the Rift Valley Province, Benson Barus is of the Tugen ethnic group, which has also produced runners including Paul Tergat. Barus had his first success as a teenager competing at the junior level, taking the gold medal over 10,000 metres at the 1998 World Junior Championships in Athletics. He began to focus on road running competitions and, being managed by Italian Federico Rosa and trained by Claudio Berardelli, he ran in a number of races in Italy. He had consecutive victories at the Amatrice-Configno race in 2000 and 2001, and also took three straight wins at the Giro di Castelbuono from 2000 to 2002. He was the winner of the 10.5 km race at the 2001 Miglianico Tour. Running at the 2001 Kenyan Championships, he achieved a personal best of 28:09.32 minutes over 10,000 m on the track, but this was not enough to make the team for the 2001 World Championships in Athletics as he came fifth overall.