They are marked as Uganda’s major imprints on the athletics world. A mention of the name Cheptegei in Kapchorwa, where I spent a few days recently, stirs excitement as Ugandans celebrate his achievements over the last four years: the double gold from the Commonwealth Games in 2018 (Australia), World Cross Country Championship gold (Denmark) in 2019, the 10,000m gold at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, the same year, just to mention a few.
However, Cheptegei told The Observer recently that his focus is on to the next challenge. Indeed as the saying goes, a runner is as good as his next race. Together with his compatriots including Jacob Kiplimo, who bagged bronze in the 10,000m at the 2020 Olympics and Peruth Chemutai, the first Ugandan woman to win an Olympic gold medal when she blitzed through the 3000m steeplechase, Cheptegei is back in Kapchorwa training for the next race.
Kapchorwa is not by any imagination an urban setting; its mountainous landscape and cool breeze provide a tranquil atmosphere, fit for a grueling training session, but also perfect for one to recuperate and relax.
Unlike Kampala that comes with too much noise and air pollution, one will not find a locality with such significant contrast as the Sebei region, encapsulated in its major district of Kapchorwa.
RUNNING IN THEIR BLOOD
There, while businesses are sprouting and people are into the hustle for their next meal, it is quiet and easygoing. Perhaps it is only the athletes from there, who have recently caused a paradigm shift on who rules long distance running globally, that have changed life in the Sebei region, to be a little more hyper.
Running has now officially been embedded into the people of Sebei region as a trade. Simba Kiprotich, 57, used to be an athlete back in the day, although he did not make any major strides into the international realms. To make up for that, he is now the chairman of athletics in the Sebei region.
He told The Observer that the mark athletes such as Phillip Kiplimo, Stella Chesang, Mercyline Chelangat, Doreen Chemutai, Solomon Mutai, Stephen Kiprotich and Stephen Kissa among others left on the world scene has changed his home area.
“Everyone now feels they can run and make a living out of it. Even I run at least 10km everyday,” he said with a giggle. “But seriously, I do run. That is not because I intend to compete on the world stage. Running is the way of life for the people in this region now. Because of the high landscape on which we live and grow our gardens, it has compelled us to run either uphill or downhill and we have thus embraced it wholeheartedly.”
Indeed, it is not a rare sight here to see a Sabiny mother with her baby strapped to the back, run up the Mt Elgon slopes and return a few minutes later with food and firewood added to her load. Because of how adapted they are to what nature handed them, Simba noted, every morning, you will catch groups of people running, especially children.
This is because every parent now believes their child could be the next big thing in track and field at an international athletics meet. Simba revealed that while more than 10 years ago, the Sebei region had Moses Kipsiro and Boniface Kipsiro running and impressing on the world scene, before Kiprotich won gold at the London Olympics in 2012, the numbers of young aspiring athletes had never shot so high like they are seeing today.
“We used to have school championships with a few hundred kids. But now, we are experiencing an overload of sorts. The number of participants is usually in thousands. It is unbelievable,” Simba said.
‘Unbelievable’ is a good description of the feeling I felt engulfed by in Kapchorwa recently.
HARD-KNOCKS LIFE
Seeing more than 200 athletes, who have chosen a professional path, assemble with dedication to start their daily practice at the crack of dawn, was witnessing future greatness in the making.
Yet, when one observes what they endure to get to the top, theirs is a hard-knocks life. Peruth Chemutai has been carrying an injury from her Diamond League race after the Olympics; she just recently resumed her light workouts.
But for Cheptegei and Kiplimo alongside many others, they have been waking up at 5am to hit the road long before the sun comes up. Some of the running is downhill, then uphill or on a leveled stretch. But covering 20km within an hour requires mental fortitude, besides heart.
Phillip Kiplimo, who won the Tanzania marathon mid last year, told The Observer that when you are in a group with your friends, they give you the push to keep going, because it is not easy.
Everyday, these athletes have three training sessions: one at dawn, mid-morning at 11am, and again in the evening at 4pm. Therein are different distances covered, depending on the advice of their coaches. With that kind of built resilience in such tough terrain, the global competition usually does not know what hit them when the Ugandan runners step on the track.
Interestingly, competition or no competition, there is a good sense of collegiality among these athletes. They work closely together and that has brought out the best from one another. They are not scared of letting one another shine, each waiting for the opportune moment to take their place in the spotlight.
Memorably after the 2020 Olympics, Cheptegei shared some of his millions in prize money with teammates including Stephen Kissa, who was his pacesetter in Tokyo. Abel Sikowo, 21, an upcoming 3000m steeplechase athlete told The Observer that on the day one of them is racing, they send out messages, including video ones, to morale-boost them.
Sikowo said: “One’s victory, is the victory for us all.”
No wonder Cheptegei and Kiplimo have offered their cars to transport their colleagues, who have no personal vehicles while in camp in Kapchorwa. The cars, a double-cabin pickup and a saloon car are fueled and serviced by Cheptegei and Kiplimo.
They are used to ferry groups of athletes to different training spots, to ensure they acquire the right balance needed by the bodies to succeed on track.
LIFESTYLE OF A RUNNER
Questions have been raised on whether the ever-growing dominance of athletes from the Sebei region has something to do with what they eat. Simba said the athletes normally eat posho (corn meal) and beans, because of the energy and bodybuilding provided by this meal.
Add Irish potatoes and green vegetables, and they are normally done. Phillip Kiplimo, who is a member of the Rosa Management Team, told The Observer that the meals they take are simple: “At breakfast, soon after we have returned from our two hours morning work-out, we shall have a chapatti, cup of African tea or black tea and an egg. The following day, it will be a banana and bread or katogo of matooke and offal, a favourite around these parts.”
It should be noted, because of the perception change towards athletics in the Sebei region, a sense of professionalism has also been inculcated. Presently, there are nine athletics management clubs in the area, where some athletes reside, feed and sleep.
There is the Uganda Wildlife Authority, Uganda Police, Uganda Prisons, Uganda People’s Defence Forces, Global, Rosa, Monica, Tuko Africa and Arizona. Some of these camps, which are structured like homes, are secluded with fences to provide privacy, and are facilitated by foreign managers.
Here, the athletes are well looked-after with chefs, coaches and television sets, where they watch athletics and other world events. Cheptegei and Peruth Chemutai are under the Global Sports Management team.
Although these athletes also have their personal homes nearby, they stay in these camps in order to remain focused, a key requirement. Without the team element, it can be tough for one to motivate oneself to wake up and go on a long run before sunrise.
For these Sabiny athletes in the Mt Elgon environs, such a level of professionalism, not there in the past, has awakened the spirit of success, previously a reserve for their Kalenjin brothers and sisters across the border in Kenya.
With their many wins, millions and fame, one would expect Cheptegei and team to prefer staying in the posh Kololo or Muyenga suburbs of Kampala, but they proudly cling to the backwaters of Kapchorwa that made them.
Doreen Chemutai, 25, who a few weeks ago was in Italy competing in the Trento Half Marathon where she finished fifth, told The Observer that staying in Europe or the flashy places of Kampala simply does not catch their fancy.
“Kapchorwa is home, and that is where we feel most comfortable. Besides, Kapchorwa provides us with the perfect training conditions to thrive,” she said. Incidentally, although many of these athletes from the Sebei region are quickly becoming household names globally, in their home area they are seen as anyone else in the community.
Simba told The Observer that Cheptegei, Kiprotich, Kiplimo, Kissa and Peruth Chemutai do not move around with any airs, despite having a net worth that can only be dreamed about by their neighbours.
One will find them in the community mixing with others, sharing a light moment, or offering support wherever they can. Simba is proud that their stardom has not changed their persona. They remain simple, walking from their homes to the shops or markets, living like any common man or woman.
jovi@observer.ug