NAIROBI, Kenya, March 19- The late Pamela Lisoreng will be interred in her home village of Kaptabuk in West Pokot on Thursday, the family has announced.
Lisoreng, a member of the 2006 World Cross team, collapsed and was pronounced dead upon arrival in hospital on Saturday after completing her morning run in Eldoret.
“The family arrived in Eldoret earlier yesterday (Tuesday) to collect the body and arrangements were made to transport it to West Pokot today (Wednesday) for burial.
“Burial and service are planned for Thursday, in West Pokot, and some athletes are to attend and pay their respects,” her management, International Athletics Consultancy (IAC) informed Capital Sport.
The family of the deceased, IAC added, requested that no autopsy should be performed to establish the cause of death.
Lisoreng, 25, had history with asthma and had battled the ailment for a number of years.
“Support from athletes was and is wonderful and we are all very thankful. Our client, Wilson Chebet, was and is very involved, offering support and providing support where and when needed and we are more than proud to be associated with individuals we have as clients,” IAC added.
Chebet blasted to 2:06:12 at the 2011 Amsterdam Marathon for second in what was the then fastest debut over the distance.
Lisoreng, a Kenya Police Service runner, distinguished herself as a solid distance athlete, marking her marathon debut last year with 2:34:13 for fourth at Hengshui in China.
She ran her career best 1:10:09 over the half marathon last year in Prague and was a regular at the Athletics Kenya National Cross Country Series besides finishing sixth at the 2012 Nationals over 5000m and winning the 2009 Tegla Loroupe Peace Race in Kapenguria.
She is survived by husband and fellow runner, Boniface Kirui and a young son. Kirui won the 2008 Valencia Half Marathon before losing the title the following year to two-time New York Marathon champion, Geoffrey Mutai.
Lisoreng finished eighth at the Fukuoka World Cross as part of the Kenyan team that won the junior 6km women’s title before she anchored her team to win the 2011 Chiba Ekiden title in Japan in a record 2:04:40 for a mixed men and women race.
Competing in stage 6 of the event where a team covers the total marathon distance of 26.1 miles (42.195km), Hitomi Niiya of Japan, the 2005 World Youth Championships 3000m bronze medallist, steadily closed Lisoreng while Sayo Nomura of the JPN Collegiate team pulled away from Russia’s Natalia Popkova.
She completed the last 7.195km in 22:52 for second in a team that also featured Thomas Longosiwa, Patrick Mutunga Mwikya and Evans Mokua that was enough to win Kenya the title on her last outing in Kenyan colours.