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  Where Chaos Reigns: Kenya's Runners Race through Fear

Where Chaos Reigns Kenya's Runners Race through Fear

By Thilo Thielke in Iten, Kenya

Part 2: A Dream Profession Turned Nightmare

Even during normal times, Irish running coach Colm O'Connell, who operates a training camp in Iten, also doubles as a psychologist. "We should never forget the world we live in here," says O'Connell. "An ordinary Kenyan makes about $100 (68) a month. Many don't have the money for decent shoes, and they can't even afford to properly feed their own children." And the runners? "Whoever wins the London Marathon comes home with $100,000 (68,000), plus maybe another $50,000 (34,000) from his sponsor, not to mention the premium."

O'Connell is a stocky redhead, the sort of man you could easily imagine drinking a pint in a Dublin pub. A former missionary from Cork, he has been working as a teacher in the remote Kenyan highlands since 1976, when there was neither electricity nor running water. He quickly recognized the Kenyans' aptitude for running and, by his second day in Iten, he was already coaching local runners. Today, Brother Colm has 45 athletes under contract and is considered one of the most successful trainers in Africa.

The situation has become almost unbearable for many Kenyan athletes. But where can they go? If things got even worse, they could cross the border to Uganda, or perhaps to Ethiopia. In that case, many would have to leave their families behind. Besides, Iten offers the best training conditions. At this altitude, the climate is mild, the air is clear, and there is no malaria. For endurance athletes, Iten is a paradise. Even German runners come here to train -- in quieter times, that is. Four weeks ago, the last foreign athletes were evacuated.

O'Connell isn't surprised that the Kalenjin have produced so many world-class runners. Unlike the Kikuyu, members of the Bantu ethnic group, the Kalenjin are Nilotes. They are tall and slender, the descendants of nomads who followed their herds through the barren countryside for weeks at a time, surviving on a basic diet. Kenyans have few options to escape the typical cycle of unemployment, poverty and hunger. In the Kenyan highlands, being a runner is a dream profession.

A Role Model Living in Fear

It is for Thamer Kamal Ali, the young runner who now begins his training every morning at 6 a.m. He is from Marakwet, a district where the legendary runner Moses Kiptanui grew up. Kiptanui, a three-time world champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, set a number of world records and won a silver medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. He is a popular hero, celebrated every time he returns to his home district, and he has been Ali's idol since childhood.

Ali has been training at Yobes Ondieki's athletic center in Iten since 2005. He is considered a great talent. Word of his potential has even reached Qatar, which granted him citizenship so that he could represent the tiny Persian Gulf oil sheikdom in international competitions. He earns a respectable salary and supports his parents and eight siblings.

Since retiring in 2000, Kiptanui has worked as a talent scout, a coach and even as a trainer of the Kenyan national team at the World Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Paris. In the meantime, he built up a real estate company. He is what O'Connell calls "a role model."

But Kiptanui also lives in fear. Three weeks ago the police stopped his driver, who had just bought a sack of potatoes. Everyone knows Kiptanui's cars. "You're transporting weapons," the police officers said to the driver. Then they beat him and, before letting him go, said: "We're going to kill you, and we're going to kill your boss, too."

"The police can murder people in this country," Kiptanui says. "Anyone. At any time. Just like that."

Defending Their Honor and Lives

After the incident, Kiptanui and 56 other athletes, including Olympic gold medalist Ezekiel Kemboi, wrote a letter. It was a cry for help. The athletes wanted to describe what is happening in Kenya to the rest of the world -- and to explain that they are innocent. "We are accused of having purchased and transported guns, bows and arrows, and other weapons that were used in the violence after the elections," the athletes wrote. "But this is not true."

Kiptanui has made his case publicly, a move that makes him an even bigger target for the fanatics. Three weeks after the murder of Lucas Sang, marathon runner Wesley Ngetich was killed by a poison-tipped arrow, and Luke Kibet, the 2007 world champion in the marathon, was hit in the head by a rock. He survived, but since then he has carried a German-made G3 automatic rifle for protection. Kiptanui, for his part, no longer wants to hide.

Kenya's athletes seem to have been caught in a deadly cycle. "Of course, they use their money to help their communities. They practically have a moral obligation to do so," says Colm O'Connell. "And in the end, who knows whether the money is really used to buy a sack of corn or a bow?" But few in the Rift Valley believe that Kenya's sports idols, of all people, are somehow in league with the militias.

"It's absurd," says Kiptanui. "Overseas, we all run for Kenya and are considered the pride of the country -- no matter what ethnic group we belong to. But, here at home, everything is falling apart, and we're fighting each other."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

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