Race in Eldoret

On leaving the internet cafe on Friday, I walked out to find that the traffic in Eldoret was at a stand still, the place was heaving and security was high. The reason, the president was in town. Then about 10 minutes later, I saw his entourage drive past, very exciting.
Saturday was meant to be an easy day of refreshing the muscles for most athletes in the camp, because of the race the following day. However I was not reassured when I looked on the board where the days training was put, and it said 30 minute easy run, followed by "prison". That did not sound too easy! "Prison" turned out to mean 30 minutes in the nearby river, which acted as an ice bath. This definitely eased off my muscles, but I was freezing by the end, and it took my a good 10 minutes to warm up!
After an excellent training week, it was a rest day for me on Sunday, but not for those athletes racing in the Discovery cross country race in Eldoret. We got there early, and so I had the opportunity to see all the races, from the youngsters right through to the seniors. It was incredible to see both the enthusiasm and the sheer quantity of athletes competing. In the junior mens race alone there were over 500 athletes. When you have this enthusiasm, this number of athletes competing and a national history of success to aspire too, it is perhaps little wonder that Kenya is the worlds most successful cross country nation.
During the junior races, competitors were wearing whatever clothes they could, and almost all ran barefoot. Noone cared if they did not have specific running gear, the enthusiasm to just compete and have a great time was incredible, almost as incredible as the speed of the leaders in the junior races. As you moved up the age groups, more and more athletes started wearing specific running gear and spikes, but there were still many barefoot runners, many of whom came very high up the field and ran at speeds that would probably secure British athletes GB cross country vests. This emphasised that to make it as an athlete in Kenya you have to train incredibly hard, and be incredibly good. This surely can be added to the list of reasons that make Kenya such a great athletics nation.
I was also introduced to an athlete formerly based at Kip Keinos training centre, and who was to run in the 12km senior mens race. His name is Asbel Kiprop, the Beijing Olympic 1500m Champion. This emphasised the quality of the Kip Keino training camp, and of coaches Simba and Ngere who had been looking after me. Hopefully the benefits I gain from this (and hopefully future) visits to the Kip Keino training camp will include the opportunity to meet Asbel again, on the start line of future major international events.