Habari za Wiki - 2 February, 2021
It was a Kenya’s 3000m in Karlsruhe
Indoor track is coming back. There were no fans in the stands there to cheer them, but Bethwel Birgen and Beatrice Chepkoech emerged victorious in 3000m at the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of the year in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Beatrice Chepkoech had company over the final few laps, however the 3000m steeplechase world champion and world record-holder maintained a consistent pace, holding off Britain’s Melissa Courtney-Bryant and Ethiopia’s Fantu Worku by just a few strides to win a close race in world leading time of 8:41.98. Here is a video of the women’s race.
The men’s race was a different show, with Bethwel taking off in the last kilometre, running solo and won in 7:34.12, a world lead time which moved him into the top 10 on the Kenyan indoor all-time list. Here’s the video of that men’s race. The next world indoor event will be Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais on 9 Feb.
Kamworor is Baaaaaaack!
Kamworwor winning the Kenya Police's Cross Country Championship
Last year was tough for everyone, but 2020 was an especially terrible year for Geoffrey Kamworor. Like any other athletes Covid 19 led to cancellation of races, his races included Boston and New York Marathons.
Then right in the middle of the year, Kamworor was knocked by a motorcycle in training. Surgery and a long recovery awaited him. After pulling out of the world half-marathon championships (where he was 3 time reigning champ), questions loomed about how his recovery was going.
But now he is back and looks in pretty perfect shape. Kamworor won the Kenya Police Cross Country championships in 29:22.3, his eighth Police Cross Country title. Sheila Chelangat defended her women’s title winning in 33:34.5. Kamworor’s first international competition since 2019 will be the RAK Half Marathon but he is not promising a world record just yet.
Obiri and Kandie shine at Kenya Defence Force Cross Country
Across town from the Police Cross Country was 40th edition of the Kenya Defence Force Cross Country championship on Friday. Just like the Police event, it was a star-studded event, with 5000m world champion Hellen Obiri and half marathon world record holder Kandie Kibiwott carrying the day.
Kandie clocked 29:24.5 for the victory and sealing a hat trick of victories while Obiri pushed hard from two kilometres to win in 33:25.1.
And Discovery Cross Country Championship!
Let’s just say it was a cross country weekend.
On Sunday, Kenya’s biggest and possibly toughest Cross Country championship – Discovery – took place in Eldoret. Despite the entry having elite athletes like Rhoenix Kipruto, Faith Kipyegon, defending champion Nicholas Kimeli, Valary Aiyabei and more, the senior races produced new winners. 5,000m Africa champion Robert Kiprop and newcomer Daisy Cherotich won the 10km races, Kiprop in 30:17.8 and 33:53.6 respectively.
This weekend the national talent was spread out across three races. But on 13 February, they’ll all be coming together for the Kenya National Cross Country championship. At that race Athletics Kenya will be selecting the team to Africa Cross Country championships.
Daniel Simiu finishes second in Ethiopia
Daniel Simiu was the lone foreigner at the 38th edition of Jan Meda International Cross Country competition in Ethiopia on Sunday. And he performed impressively with a second place finish given the strong field. Jan Meda is a historic race, normally hosted in Addis Ababa, but moved out of town this year for health concerns.
Non-Kenyan News
As a Black Woman, Dina Asher-Smith Takes a Knee Every Day
Would 200m world champion Dina Asher-Smith take a knee in protest for social injustice to follow what other many athletes have done? Well, Dina says excelling and being her in a sporting arena is similar to taking a knee in protest of racial injustices because as a black woman, she basically takes a knee every day.
Gloria Ratti - Women’s Running Trailblazer You’ve Never Heard Of
We love inspirational stories. And this one is about Gloria Ratti – the woman who developed an early timing system, preserved Boston Marathon memorabilia, and at 89, is still championing the sport’s best. Ratti was given a more formal role in the Boston Marathon in 1974 and rose to be a member of the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) board of governors in 1985, and eventually vice president. Ratti kept up her role as special envoy for women runners.
Registration open for 2021 Boston 5km
Do you wanna be part of the historic Patriots’ Day weekend? Then sign up for the virtual Boston 5km race which will be held virtually April 16-April 18. Registration is now open. Remember: virtual, so you can do it anywhere and work toward a new 5km personal best.
From Us At Enda
We’ve got two reports back on the way we are all making an impact together
Athletes Grant Update
Each year, 2% of our revenue goes back to community leaders in Kenya. Who we support is always chosen by you, members of the Enda Community who bought shoes or other gear and thus made a contribution toward this grant programme.
In 2020, we asked you if we should support an organisation as we have in past years, or take the extraordinary step of directly supporting Kenyan athletes who had been impacted by the pandemic.
We did an open call for applications through its social media platforms, partner organisations, and athlete networks to ensure the message could reach as many athletes as possible. We had a total of 13 athletes apply for the grant.
In November, the Enda Community Foundation team reviewed the applications and were able to narrow it down to 5 applicants. It was important that the finalists were not only athletes in, but represented the diversity of runners in Kenya. From youth to veterans, men and women, able bodied and people with disabilities. The 5 selected athletes then received kshs 36,000 to help cover some of their basic needs.
Thank you for making this possible. We aspire to grow and continue building a global community who are excited about supporting and contributing to different social impact programs. Thank you for being part of this community.
Extra Emissions Reductions
Making the world's most socially, and environmentally responsible shoes is not just something we say, we want to live by it.
As the first African brand and road running shoes to achieve Climate Neutral certification, we aim to make this a tradition for everyone. For that reason, we started off the year by asking each one of us to join us in calculating and offsetting your individual carbon footprint.
We had a total of 11 participants completing their individual carbon offsets: US - 4, Kenya - 2, and rest of the world - 5.
Thanks to everyone who joined in the campaign to help make our world better to live and run in. We hope everyone will continue to reduce individual carbon emissions and demand that your government take robust and sustainable action to preserve our earth.
From The Enda Community
We always have thought our shoes aren’t just great for a run, but make for a great bit of flare for a casual outfit too. It’s great to see @jamiekimani agreeing with us!
“This @endasportswear Rainbow runners are slowly becoming my set staples #comfortableshoes”
