Marathon specialist John Kelai was Commonwealth gold medallist at the distance in 2010. Winning another seven major marathons in the period 2003 to 2010, he placed a personal best of 2:09:09 in Eindhoven in 2005 – though it was only sufficient to secure him fourth place on that occasion. Kelai was partly motivated to take a leading role in development of the Kenya Walk for Peace because of the loss of three uncles, shot by cattle rustlers when he was only 13 years old.