Meriem Wangari

Meriem Wangari Kiprugut (born 22 February 1979) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specialises in half marathon and 10K road races. Her personal best for the half marathon distance is 1:10:27 hours, set in Lille in 2007. She made her marathon debut in 2012 and set a time of 2:31:30 hours on her first attempt.

She has competed in mainly British and French competitions. She has won half marathons in Bristol, Bath, Lille, Boulogne-Billancourt, as well as Gothenburg and Marrakech. She is a three-time winner of the 20 Kilomètres de Paris, a four-time winner of the 20 kilomètres de Maroilles, and has had five victories at the Foulée Suresnoise.

Wangari won her first races while based in the United Kingdom. She won the Swansea Bay 10K in 2001, then took the women's title at the Windsor Half Marathon a week later. She returned to the Swansea race the following year and took a second straight victory. She had consecutive wins at both the Cardiff 10K and the Bristol Half Marathon in 2003 and 2004. A personal best run of 1:11:58 hours came at the Bath Half Marathon in March 2003 and she was narrowly beaten by a second by race winner Deborah Robinson. She won the Göteborgsvarvet in Sweden in May, returned to the UK to win the Stroud Half Marathon in October, then went on to reach the top of the podium at her second attempt at the 2004 Bath Half Marathon. Her fastest run of 2004 came at the Glasgow Half Marathon, where she completed the distance in 1:12:00 hours to take second place behind Beatrice Omwanza.

Wangari moved to France for the 2005 season and completed extensively on the country's road race circuit that year. Among her outings were victories at the 20 kilomètres de Maroilles, Semi-Marathon d'Oloron Sainte Marie, La Rochelle Half Marathon, Alençon-Médavy 15K, and the Foulée Suresnoise 10K. Another win came at the Boulogne-Billancourt Half Marathon in what was then a course record time of 1:12:00 hours. She improved her personal best time to 1:11:54 hours at that year's Reims à Toutes Jambes half marathon.

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