Hellen Wanjiku Mugo (born 12 December 1985) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. She has won marathons in Belgrade, Carpi, Mombasa and Košice. Her personal best is 2:27:16 hours, set in Carpi.
Born in Nyeri in Kenya,[1] she did not immediately enter professional running as she married Ruben Mwaura and had a daughter, Anne Muthoni, in 2006.[2] Mugo was runner-up to Philes Ongori at the Kenyan Armed Forces half marathon at the start of 2009 and from there she began to focus on longer distance.[3] Her first European outing in the marathon saw her take a comfortable win at the Belgrade Marathon some twelve minutes ahead of the opposition.[4] She came third at the Mombasa Marathon,[5] In her third outing of the year, she knocked over ten minutes off her best time to win the Italian Marathon in Carpi with a run of 2:27:16 hours. Mugo was confident in her abilities and said "I think that I can run 2:25 with the help of pacemakers."[2]
In her first race of 2011 she started quickly at the Dubai Marathon, reaching the halfway point in 1:12:54 but faded in the second half, ending up twelfth with 2:36:38 hours.[1] [6] She entered the 2011 Boston Marathon and finished 13th place with her run of 2:29:06.[7] She had a decent showing at the Porto Half Marathon, coming fourth,[8] but did less well at the Venice Marathon, ending up seventh and crossing the line after 2:50:59 hours.[9]
Mugo had a more successful year in 2012. She was fifth at the Seoul International Marathon,[10] won the Mombasa Marathon,[11] and set a course record of 2:29:59 to win the Košice Peace Marathon.[12] She ended the year with a sixth-place finish at the Honolulu Marathon.[13]