A persisting back injury has forced Kenya's former Chicago and London marathon champion Felix Limo to hung up his spikes.

Limo, who was one of the fastest Kenyan marathon runners, is just 32, but can no longer continue to run after he failed to shake off a back injury, which forced him to pull out of last October's Toronto marathon.

"At the end of last year, I had some tough decisions to make. I had some back problems which meant I could not train as well as I would have liked, which lead to me dropping out of the Toronto Marathon last October," Limo said late on Thursday.

The well-known Kenyan distance runner announced his international retirement after a top-level career that spanned more than a decade.

His agent Michel Boeting, confirmed that his client had to reflect on his health and career and realized that he was not getting any better, before he agreed to throw in the towel and end an eventful career that saw him compete among some of the world best marathon runners.

He clashed with Haile Gebrselassie, Martin Lel, Paul Tergat, Robet Cheruiyot among others.

"In addition to obviously spending more time with my family, I'm looking forward to being able to devote more of my energies to my business affairs away from athletics as I have interests in real estate, dairy farming and tea plantations," Limo added.

Among his achievements were the world's fastest marathon in 2004 and a world record over 15km on the roads.

Now 32, Limo first came to prominence when he ran 27:04.54 for 10,000m for second place at the 2000 Van Damme Memorial meeting in the Belgian capital of Brussels.

However, Limo quickly found that his forte was racing on the roads. On November 21, 2001, he ran 15km in 41:29 at the Seven Hills Run in the Dutch city of Nijmegen, famously beating Haile Gebrselassie.

The time was the inaugural standard for the distance when the IAAF ratified road running world records at the start of 2003 and stood as the best time ever until November 2010 when another Kenyan Leonard Komon broke it.

Limo ran his first marathon in 2003 when he finished second in the Amsterdam Marathon in 2:06:42, at the time the second fastest debut ever. Between 2004 and 2006, he won four out of his five marathons, his other victories coming at the 2005 Chicago Marathon and 2006 London Marathon, the latter in 2:06:39.

"However, I will always run, I love the sport. I would like to thank the man most responsible for my success, Patrick Sang (a former Olympic steeplechase silver medalist), who coached me throughout my career and Adidas, who supported me for many years."

"I would also like to thanks all the race organisers I have dealt with over the years. They were very kind and generous to me," said Limo. Endi

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