KENYA BELIEVE IT? WHAT A TRIP

KENYA has a rich history of distance running.

Six young Gold Coast athletes – five from The Southport School aged 15 and 16, and a girl from Queensland Academies aged 15 – have experienced what life and running is like in the famous village of Iten.

All the Coast athletes race from 400m to cross country and five will compete at the state championships this year.

Of recent times, the most successful marathon runner is Kenyan Wilson Kipsang who won this year’s Berlin marathon in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 23 seconds. Just think of this as running an average of 4min 42sec per mile (1609m) for 26 miles (42km).

The most remarkable thing is that the second, third, fourth and fifth-placed runners were also Kenyan. In the women’s race, first, second and fourth were Kenyans.

Two weeks later in Chicago, Dennis Kimetto broke the course record. Surprise, surprise – there were three more Kenyans just behind him.

All of these runners come from the same tribe – the Kalenjin. This tribe has about five million people and while only a small minority in Kenya, they dominate world running.

To explain this in results, America has about 17 men in history who have run under 2 hours 17 minutes for the marathon. In 2011, in October, the Kalenjin tribe had 32 runners that broke this time.

Kenya is such a diverse country. The athletes, coaches and parents who travelled with the group initially stayed at a recreational centre called “Batians View” at the base of Mount Kenya which is about 1600m above sea level.

Here they worked for four days building a local school kitchen and trained each morning running various trails around the village.

It was after this that they travelled to 2500m above sea level to the running village of Iten.

This is where the “HighAltitude Training Centre’’ is based and athletes from all around the world come to live and train.

At Iten, a group called “The Kenya Experience” organised coaches and pacemakers to coordinate all the training sessions for the group.

It was here for five days, they really experienced what special “Kenyan’’ structured training sessions were like.

The group were taken through multiple sessions with the coaches that included core, hill sprints, “Track Tuesday’’ and specific running drills.

One of the Gold Coasters, Max Eckersley, said: “It was an eye-opener to see so many elite runners in one area and to see the determination in their eyes. It motivated me to become not only a better runner, but a better athlete with no excuses.

“The hardest session we did was ‘Track Tuesday’ where we had to do fast-paced multiple 800m, 400m and 200m sets.”

The group were surprised at how open all the coaches and athletes were.

On one special night they were treated to a talk at the house of dual 5000m world silver medallist Sylvia Kibet (Chebiwot) whose aim is to run the marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for Kenya.

The group learnt there really are no secrets – just train hard and often, and most of all, listen to your body. They were treated to the life and daily routines of the runners.

Of the diet in Kenya, Max said: “It was very healthy. Meals were made up of what they grew locally and we lived in conditions much the same as home.”

When asked how the visit has changed his approach to his own personal training and competition, Max said: “It has changed my perspective on my attitude and has made me always to think more positive.

“I am always going to listen to my body and know when to run hard and when to take it slow.”

Was the trip a success – absolutely! The group learnt so much and the Kenyans received a new school kitchen.

It was win, win.