Eyes On Top Prize

By Joseph Ngure

Two pregnancies between a nascent athletics career in the past seven years did not deter her. Rose Jepkemboi Chesire left the remote village of Kondabilet in Uasin Gishu District to run in Nairobi last year, little was expected from her.

But to peoples’ surprise, she returned home not only a champion, but also a millionaire.

This was the realisation of her dream that made her leave her rural home for Iten town where many thought she was running away from the usual village life.

Heroic welcome

She returned to the same village to a heroic welcome after outclassing a strong field to win last year’s Standard Chartered Nairobi International Marathon after nine months of intensive training in Iten.

The 24-year-old mother of two joined a class of surprise winners of the most lucrative annual event in the country.

She is keen to make it two-in-a-row next Sunday.

Jepkemboi has been featuring in a number of local road races prepare for the event.

Last month, she clocked 33:45.5 and finished eighth in the Fluorspar Community 10km road race in Keiyo.

Family of nine

"All along, I had been dreaming of winning a big race. But I did not expect to come first in Nairobi last year," she said. Born in 1984, the sixth born child in a family of nine, Jepkemboi kin are mainly runners.

As opposed to her predecessors Chemokil Chilapong and Irine Jerotich, the 2004 and 2006 winners, she boasts of hailing from a family rich in athletics talents.

However, none of her siblings come close to her achievements.

She started running in primary school when a teacher, Thomas Mukhwana, identified her talent.

"I was running with other girls in primary school. Our coach was Mwalimu Mukhwana," says the champion who preferred competing in 5,000m.

Her raw talent could not be nurtured immediately as she could not pursue secondary school education after completing her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education.

Her peasant parents could not raise her school fees.

"I wanted to join either Sing’ore or Kapkenda Girls so that I could continue my training.

But my dream could not materialise as my parents could not manage to pay my school fees," explained Jepkemboi.

As is common with many girls not going to school, she conceived while at home and got her first child, Rogers Kipkosgei in 2001.

Bored with village life, she requested her elder brother Ronald Kirui (also an international athlete), to introduce her to any training camp so that she could start training.

But Kirui gave her a cold shoulder, thinking she was out for mischief. Besides, she had a child to take care of and help parents at home.

"I thought she had been lured by young mischievous athletes to go to Iten with a hidden agenda. At first I did not take her seriously," said the brother.

But she continued pestering him all the time. "I really wanted to train. At home, I could not get good opportunity. I wanted to go to Iten," she told Feverpitch in Iten, her training base.

At long last, the brother gave in to her demands and took her to Rock-n-Roll Marathon champion Christopher Cheboiboch, who lives and trains in Iten.

This is where she launched her training for no specific competition. But her move to Iten was not smooth either. She had nowhere to stay while training.

Although she could train with other athletes from different camps, she had to look for her own accommodation.

Lucky for her, a family friend who lives near St Patrick’s High School took her in. This was in 2004.

But her dream suffered another blow when she had to leave the camp before peaking in late 2005 after conceiving her second child.

After seeing the talent and the running passion in her, coach Peter Mathu recalled her to the camp early last year, six month after delivery.

She took her training more seriously and followed routine programmes as outlined by the coaches.

During September, she ran the 21km race during the Rediscover Nandi Safaricom race in Kapsabet and finished fifth. Magdaline Chemjor won the race before going on to win last year’s Amsterdam Marathon. Running in Nairobi was part of her training. She was prepared psychologically to run, not to win.

"We took her to Nairobi to try full marathon for the first time. We wanted to see what she could do," said Mathu.

Jepkemboi, popularly known in the village as ‘Madam’ after her teachers nick-named her because of her smartness in school, had no regret for living her youngest son, Anthony (now 2 years six months) too early.

She had gone to pursue a career that was going to take her places after she demonstrated her capabilities of running despite returning poor times in Nairobi.

Her husband, a 28-year-old farmer, saw a bright future in her early success.

"I will continue supporting her with her training. I will continue giving her my blessings wherever she goes," said Kiptenai during her reception last year.

Jepkemboi’s mother, Josephine Kirui, could not hide her joy for the success of her daughter who was yet to move to her husband.

Although she went to Nairobi without a manager, she went home with one after the coaches introduced her to Gianni Demadonna, one of the top managers sanctioned by Athletics Kenya to manage local athletes.