A Timaru running coach has outpaced 8000 other competitors to claim the gold medal in one of China’s major half-marathon events.
On March 22 Run Timaru senior coach Jesse Kempf took part in the Yueqing Half Marathon — winning the entire event with a time of 1hr 8min 30sec.
In China for a work trip with his father Rene, who also competed in the event and achieved a PB time, Kempf said they had competed in the Shanghai Half Marathon the week before.
Battling a tight hamstring from Shanghai, he said he went into the Yueqing event with no expectations and was very much unaware of the scale of it.
‘‘I was fortunate enough to be put in the elite category, which meant I didn’t have to start back behind thousands of people.
‘‘I walked to the front, just looked up — there was like 14 drones up in the sky, the whole four or five-lane road was completely blocked off for 21km and there were four SUVs and a couple of motorbikes with cameras.
‘‘I was just thinking ‘what have I walked into here?’.’’
He said in New Zealand’s biggest half-marathon event he would probably only be a top 10 finisher with an outside chance of being in the top three.
Standing at the start line in Yueqing, Kempf said his only focus was giving it a good crack.
‘‘The guys went out a lot quicker at the start than I would have liked but I just attached myself to them.
‘‘A group of three of us pulled away and there were quite a few moments where I wanted to just settle for third but my competitive nature just wouldn’t let me.
‘‘With about 5km to go I got a second wind, made a bit of a surge to the front . . . and then with 2km to go I put in another big push.
‘‘I got to the final straight, checked over my shoulder and that was the first point in the race where I thought ‘I’m going to win this’.’’
It was a surreal moment crossing the finish line, he said.
‘‘I still don’t think it has sunk in.
‘‘Coming from small town Timaru and just running with my friends and family to being over at a major event like that and winning a race with 8000 people in it.
‘‘It’s something I never could have dreamt of. I was still pinching myself the whole time after the race.
‘‘My main goal with running has always just been to fulfill my potential and to try and keep getting better. It’s never been about being the best or winning a particular race.’’
As the only two Westerners in the race, Kempf said they were subjected to quite a lot of media attention after the race.
‘‘I couldn’t get away for three hours.
‘‘I got caught in one spot and there must have at least a hundred photos taken. It was surreal.
‘‘The interviews were also tough, the guy I spoke to after the race barely spoke English and I didn’t even know what they were telling me to do sometimes.’’
Kempf only began running seriously around six years ago after a serious injury to his hand meant he had to take a break from the other sports he was competing in.
‘‘I have a physical job and I’m very active so it was probably the first time I started to feel kind of depressed.
‘‘I started going on one or two jogs a week with a friend and I found that gave me a bit of a sense of achievement for the day. Then I thought I’d sign up for a half-marathon, did that and really enjoyed it.
‘‘My friend, Tom Heath, said ‘you’ve got a lot of potential, I want to help you’ and he just encouraged me to keep going and wrote me up a wee plan and from there I just started training.’’
Having a university background in sport coaching as well having done sport science papers, Kempf said he became interested in training others and learning how he could better improve his own running.
‘‘I’ve been coaching now for five years and just started with friends and family and then that turned into coaching with the Timaru Run Club and helping people of all ages and abilities.
‘‘I’m just as passionate about coaching others as I am about my own journey.’’
He only began competing internationally last year and said he proudly represents Timaru when he does.
‘‘When I go overseas I wear my Run Timaru singlet because that’s who I feel I’m running for.
‘‘I’ve had so many messages from people that I’ve ran with back home and it’s been really cool because I feel like they’ve been on the journey with me, which I think is what’s so special about coming from our town.
‘‘I’m really thankful to Ben Wreford at Frontrunner who has always looked after me and also to Craig Motley who has been helping me with coaching the last six months.’’
He said going forward he wanted to work up to competing in a full marathon and also to inspire and encourage others to find the joy in running like he had.
‘‘Whether it’s for socialising, friendship or improving your performance, we have an awesome running community here in Timaru both through Park Run and our run club.
‘‘People are more than welcome to come join us on a Tuesday night down at the Soundshell starting in April.’’
