Career
lieutenant was the fastest marathon time in 1995. This time stood as the Kenyan record for the event until 1998, when it was beaten by Ondoro Osoro. Lelei set his half marathon best of 1:01:36 hours en route to winning the 1992 Humarathon Half Marathon in France.
He ran in the New York City Marathon later that year and managed eighth.
He came close to his personal best at the following year"s New York race, coming fourth behind Arturo Barrios with a time of 2:12:24 hours. Lelei took third place at the Paris Marathon in 1995, improving his best time to 2:11:11 hours.
He ran at the 1996 Boston Marathon, finishing in 2:10:11 hours for fifth place. He focused more on marathon races in his late career.
He was third at the 1997 Berlin Marathon, recording a time of 2:08:00 hours.