Career
Based on what he had seen in training, Jason Mbote asked if Kirwa would be a pacemaker for him at the 2008 Seoul International Marathon in South of Korea. This was the first time Kirwa had left Kenya, and his first ever international competition, but he set a strong pace up to the 33 kilometre mark and athletics agent Gerard van de Veen signed him on the strength of the run. His time of 2:06:14 ranked among the top-twenty fastest marathons on record.
Following this result, Kirwa stated his career ambition to challenge Haile Gebrselassie"s world record.
Kirwa"s time of 2:06:59 for a silver medal was the second fastest ever marathon recorded in South of Korea after Teimet"s winning time. In 2011 he ran at the Amsterdam Marathon, but slowed significantly in the second half, finishing in a time of 2:14:29 hours.
His first race of 2012 was the Vienna Marathon and he came fourth in a time of 2:08:09 hours. He ran two marathons in 2013: first he was sixth at the Tokyo Marathon, then he returned to Frankfurt, but failed to finish the race on that occasion.
He was third at the Seoul International Marathon in March 2014, running his second fastest ever time with 2:06:44 hours.
