Dennis Kimetto: From mole hunter to athletics star

World marathon record holder Dennis Kimetto with his wife Caroline. He
made it to the ?nal three of the IAAF World Athlete of the Year awards held
in Monte Carlo, Monaco, last month. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

NAIROBI: The 2014 season has shone with a new script that is different from the golden crew that usually ships home the bullion from foreign lands.

It will go down in history as the year that Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto emerged as the first ever athlete to run 42km under two hours and three minutes.

Indeed, Kenya has enjoyed a more than credible performance in well-heeled big city marathons and other global competitions this season, but Kimetto remains a cut above them all.

And he would make it to the final three of the IAAF World Athlete of the Year awards held in Monte Carlo, Monaco, last month.

Kimetto, who rose from setting traps to catch moles on people’s farms in Kamwosor village in Keiyo South, saw IAAF confirm his jaw-dropping time of 2:02:57 as a world marathon record. He earned a meagre Sh50 for every mole he successfully trapped.

HUMBLE BACKGROUND

He shattered Wilson Kipsang’s record by 26 seconds at the BMW Berlin Marathon last September, sending athletic pundits into speculation about whether it was possible for a human being to run 42km in under two hours.

When he charged the Sh50 for every mole he trapped to prevent destruction of crops to guarantee residents food security, no none in his village expected he would one day rise to the pinnacle of global athletics.

His humble background revolved around striving parents who focused on small-scale farming and who later realised their son was talented in athletics.

Emmanuel Mutai invited Kimetto to join their run that day, liked the look of his stride and asked whether he would take up running.

Not bad for a man who first burst onto the international scene in 2012 and now, at 30, he is confident of at least another five years at the very top.

The Berlin conquest was also a sweet victory for second-placed Mutai, who crossed the 30km mark at 1:27.37, a record previously held by Kenya’s Patrick Makau (1:27.38), the former world marathon record holder.