By Elias Makori, Managing Editor
Carlo Capalbo, President of RunCzech, organisers of last weekend’s Birell 10k Night Race Prague 2026, has offered a personal apology to Kenya's Victor Kipruto Kiprono who fell from first to third place after being misled by the lead car on the race's home straight.
The race organisers have also confirmed that the Kenyan runner will receive prize money as if he had actually won the race.
Burundi-born Rodrigue Kwizera claimed a dramatic victory in the race, clocking 27 minutes and 15 seconds to break the Spanish national record by 10 seconds following Kipruto’s costly late-race detour.
The prize breakdown for the race was: Winner: €3,000 (Sh450,000); Course Record: €2,000 (Sh300,000); Time Bonus: €5,000 (Sh750,000); World Record: €20,000 (Sh3 million).
At top-level running events, official lead vehicles carrying timing clocks, TV cameras, or photographers, traditionally move ahead of the runners.
For safety and technical reasons, all support vehicles leave the race course via designated exit ramps several dozen metres before the finish gate. At this moment in Saturday’s race, the leading Kenyan, Kipruto, mistakenly followed one of the race's support vehicles off the course but before he corrected his mistake and returned to the track, he dropped to third place.
Capalbo personally apologized to the Kenyan runner after the race with Kipruto accepting his apology and promising to return to Prague next year to win.
Kenya's Victor Kipruto Kiprono (second right) in the lead pack at Saturday's Birell 10k Night Race Prague 2026 race. Kipruto fell from first to third place after being misled by the lead car on the home straight. (Photo / RunCzech)
Capalbo is highly-respected in athletics circles, having founded the Prague International Marathon in 1994, four years after the Czech Republic emerged from over 40 years of Communist rule.
‘All Runners are Beautiful’
In 2012, Capalbo launched the RunCzech Running League that features seven races held in five cities of the Czech Republic and one guest race.
The RunCzech race series, with over 85,000 runners, has been awarded a total of seven World Athletics Gold Label Road Races, and has attracted many of the world’s leading athletes such as Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie, Italy's Stefano Baldini and Kenya's Paul Tergat.
The RunCzech slogan is: “All Runners are Beautiful.” And this came into play when Kipruto managed a smile after being compensated for his dramatic loss on Saturday.
In his statement on Saturday’s drama, Jana Moberly, the Elite Athletes Coordinator at RunCzech, said: "We spoke with Victor right after the race. Naturally, he was upset, but he also admitted his own mistake, where he saw the gate, but as he was illuminated by the TV car, he ran automatically behind it.
“On behalf of RunCzech, we apologized to him and promised to address the situation so that it does not happen again in the future. Although Victor lost the victory, he demonstrated great quality, and we will be glad to see him at our upcoming races."
In another statement, race organisers appreciated the efforts athletes put into races and regretted the incident in which Kipruto was also partly to blame “for not being vigilant enough.”
"Elite runners perform at the absolute limits of human ability, and we strive to provide them with 100% service and clear navigation. However, as he entered the finish straight, at a critical moment the runner got too close to the TV vehicle, which caused him not to realize, that at the given second the vehicle was leaving the course.
"Even though the vehicle followed standard exit protocol, we realize that a confusing situation arose for the runner, to which we were unable to react in a split second and prevent him from leaving the course. We sincerely apologize to Victor Kipruto Kiprono for this complication," said Jiří Nečásek, Communications Director at RunCzech.
Carlo Capalbo, President of the RunCzech organizing committee. (Photo / RunCzech)
Prize Money Compensation
“According to World Athletics Technical Rules (Rule TR 55 for road races), every athlete is personally responsible for completing the full designated and marked course," the organisers further explained.
“Although we regret the situation, the official race results must strictly reflect the approved course and the order in which the runners crossed the finish line. From a legislative and athletic standpoint, Rodrigue Kwizera remains the winner of the Birell 10k Night Race Prague 2026.”
"All elite athletes and their managers receive complete technical documents before the start and familiarize themselves in detail with the race course, including the finish corridor, during the technical briefing.
“We regret all the more that this unfortunate situation occurred amidst final exhaustion and a fast sprint," added Jiří Nečásek who also confirmed that the Kenyan runner would receive prize money as if he had actually won the race.
To forestall such mishaps in future, the organisers have also announced precautionary measures, immediately initiating a review of the organization of support vehicles for upcoming events.
“For future races, we will focus even more on better measures around exit zones for support vehicles and other critical points. We thank all spectators for the fantastic atmosphere and the athletes for their performances,” the statement from the organisers added. (Additional reporting by RunCzech)
