Building back trust in Kenyan distance running will be a long journey

• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

In the end World Athletics decided to give them another chance, association president Sebastian Coe telling a media briefing after yesterday's council meeting in Rome that "building back trust will be a long journey" after a "disfiguring period", but that all the stakeholders were now aligned in coming together "to do everything we can to resolve this situation"

Sebastian Coe also referenced a letter from the Kenyan sports ministry committing a further $5 million a year, for the next five years, to bolster anti-doping efforts in the country. Whether that will be enough remains to be seen.

There's always been an emotional and romantic connection with Kenya, which has produced some of the very best cross-country runners, the best steeplechasers, and best marathoners down through the years. The tales of growing up in rural Kenya, running to school each day, fuelled on the natural diets and always the best vegetables and grains, very little processed foods, all never far from the soil they were grown in.

Like neighbours Ethiopia and more recently Uganda, there's always been a fascination with the East African runners, living and training in the highlands, and the ease with which they glide across the ground.

I can recall the days spent in Teddington and Melbourne, training with some of the finest Kenyan athletes; Moses Kiptanui, William Tanui, Julius Kariuki, Daniel Komen, Sally Barsosio and many more. We ran together in the parks, at the track and travelled to races all over the world. Back then, in the early 1990s, Kim McDonald had one of the largest groups of Kenyan athletes and they would come and train in Teddington, all staying at a house on Park Road, just 400m from the gates of Bushy Park.

We all felt we could learn from the Kenyans. Train Hard, Win Easy, as the book said, but also living and eating simple so that nothing felt impossible.

That was nearly three decades ago, and how things have changed in that time. Now there are so many more Kenyan athletes it's hard to keep track, new athletes turning up all the time, each one looking for a chance, an opportunity to hit the big time and earn a living.

It's easy to see the attraction when you can win a prize in a small local race equivalent to a month's salary for those just entering the job market in Kenya. There's so much to attract athletes to train hard, travel the world and earn a living. With that comes competition, not just in the races, but just to get the opportunity to travel, to run a race...