A two-time WMRA World Cup Champion, Joyce Muthoni Njeru is a Kenyan mountain runner. 

The first born of a family of five, she began running from an early age at school, running her first race in 2007. 

Joyce then joined an Athletics club in 2012, and by 2017 she competed, and won, her first senior mountain race. That same year she also joined the running group run2gether, which is based in both Kenya and Austria. 

She has spoken of her admiration for fellow Kenyan runner Lucy Wambui Murigi, the 2017 and 2018 World Mountain Running Champion, and in 2021 Joyce achieved her then-biggest feat in running by clinching the WMRA World Cup, something her role model has never achieved. 

Joyce Muthoni Njeru has since gone from strength to strength, culminating in her successfully defending her WMRA World Cup win in 2022. 

With run2gether, she trains at the Longonot Hills in Kenya, north of Nairobi and when not training or running, Joyce is an army officer based at the Kahawa Barracks in the Kenyan capital, and competed at the 2022 World Military Cross-country Championship on behalf of the Kenyan Defence Force. 

Njeru has also competed in several road races alongside mountain ones, but focusses on mountain running. 

Joyce Muthoni Njeru Record and Results 

In 2017, Joyce Muthoni Njeru won the Gernkogel Mountain Run in Austria in her debut senior Mountain race.  

She also competed in several other mountain runs that year, coming first in the Lech Mountain Half Marathon, Obergailtaler Mountain Run and the Paluzza – Malga Mountain Run. 

2018 saw Joyce Muthoni Njeru selected for the Kenyan team at the 2018 World Mountain Running Championships in Andorra. She finished 13^th as she helped her nation to win the team title. 

That year also saw her continue to develop individually; She won the Silvretta Run 3000, Biberbach Lauf, and Pfänderlauf, whilst also coming second in the Swiss Engadiner Sommerlauf and Challenge Stellina. 

Partly due to the impact of COVID on race fixtures, Joyce Muthoni Njeru did not compete in the WMRA World Cup in until 2021 when she stormed to victory to become WMRA World Cup winner. 

With a total of 685 points, she finished 32 points ahead of Britain’s Charlotte Morgan in the overall standings, also claiming victory in ‘Classic Mountain’ subcategory in the process. 

On her way to victory, she won the Grossglockner Berglauf, setting a new record in the process, along with the Krkonossky Half Marathon. She also came third in the Vertical Nasego and fourth in the Trofeo Nasego, before winning the Trofeo Ciolo, the Zumaia Flysch Trail Maratòn and coming seventh in the vertical kilometre Chiavenna Lagunc. 

In 2022 she retained her title, a campaign that saw her pick up wins at the Montemuro Vertical Run, Grossglockner Berglauf, Montée du Nid d’Aigle, Giir di Mont Uphill, and both the Canfranc-Canfranc Vertical and Skyrace. She also came second in the Trofeo Naseg and fourth in the Vertical.  

Alongside her overall title, she also remained on top of the ‘Classic Mountain’ standings, and set a new record at the Montée du Nid d’Aigle race. 

Joyce Muthoni Njeru once again competed in the world championship at the 2021 edition, held in Thailand in 2022, as part of the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships. She finished in 35^th, struggling from injury throughout the race.