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Jan-4-2008
Kenyan Athletes Trying to Cope With Unrest
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
While the horrifying death of Kenyan Olympian Lucas Sang and the wounding of world marathon champion Luke Kibet have made headlines, much of the information coming out of Kenya from the athletics community is that most athletes remain safe, but training and travel has been curtailed due to the obvious dangers.
Agent Lisa Buster reports that world marathon champion Catherine Ndereba and her husband Anthony Maina are safe, but housebound in Nairobi. Road runner Linus Maiyo, who lives in Eldoret, is unable to train and is staying indoors.
Tom Ratcliffe, who manages marathoners Stephen Kiogora, Evans Rutto and Ben Maiyo says that his athletes are fine, but hesitant to go out for training. "Most guys are staying in their home areas, as they want to stay close to their families and do not want to travel," he wrote in an e-mail message.
Miler Elkanah Angwenyi is at home in Nakuru, according to his manager, Hussein Makke, but the situation is not good. "Things are tense in his
hometown," Makke wrote in an e-mail. "He was not able to go out to train and it has been almost a week now." Geoffrey Rono, also a miler, said his
town of Kericho is like a "war zone," according to Makke. "Many people have been killed and businesses have been burned to the ground," Makke reported after speaking to Rono on the phone. "He is safe and he is able to train."
Makke is very concerned that his athletes will not be able to get to Nairobi to take international flights for upcoming competitions overseas. "Several of my athletes are scheduled to travel next week to compete in Spain and France for XC. We also have the marathons in Phoenix and Houston and the Bermuda International Race Weekend coming up and we are still not sure if they will be able to travel to Nairobi to take the international flights. At the same time, we are hopeful that they will be able to maintain their fitness."
James Templeton, whose Kenyan athletes include Augustine Choge and David Rudisha, wrote in a posting on the Track & Field News website that Choge was shake up after a mob mistook his tribal identity. "He was dragged out of a matatu (mini-bus) and accused of being a Kikuyu because his skin colour is a little lighter than most Kalenjin. Despite speaking Nandi to the guys who
dragged him out, he was very reluctantly let go."
Templeton also issued an ominous warning: "The next days and weeks are crucial, if the violence is not kept under control and some peace resumed
then it will escalate as more are killed and more have revenge on their minds. Shops are all closed and people are without food."
Another agent, Ricky Simms, reported similar difficulties for his athletes who are still in Kenya (several, including stars Micah Kogo and Vivian Cheruiyot were already in Europe). "It is a crazy situation. Most athletes are staying at their homes and afraid to go to the towns. I think they can still train OK early in the morning in the rural areas. The athletes are now complaining that they are running out of food at home and cannot go to town to get shopping or even money from the bank."
Journalists also have to be careful. "The situation is really crazy!" said Elias Makori, the chief athletics reporter for The Daily Nation. "Right now we are having to do our pages early and make a quick dash to our homes, hoping for a restful night. My brother and his wife have been holed up at a police station in Iten for the last five days and there's no sign of a let-up in the chaos."
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