TALENT IN LAND WITHOUT THUNDER: Turkana prides in a number of world, Olympic and Commonwealth Games champions

Turkana County, they say, is the latest African destination with huge petroleum deposits despite its unsuitability for arable farming.

The script, however, goes without a scant mention of world-beating athletics stars born and bred in this far-flung region.

From the flamboyant Paul Ereng, the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games 800m champion, former herdsboy and 2010 world cross-country champion Joseph Ebuya to 2010 Commonwealth Games John Kelai’s sign of the cross at the finish line; Turkana is no doubt another temple of Kenyan middle and long-distance running.

Throw in 2010 world 5,000m bronze medallist Alice Aprot, Irene Limika, placed 20th at the 2009 World Championships marathon, road race veteran Elizabeth Ewoi and world cross country runner Jane Ekimat and the world will be left in awe.

There is also the 2015 Seoul International Marathon winner Wilson Loyanae Erupe, who tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test in 2012 and was banned from competing for two years in February 2013.

But Ereng, the alumnus of Starehe Boys Centre in Nairobi, stands out as the most high profile star from Turkana County. Former Athletics Kenya head coach Mike Kosgei vividly remembers picking Ereng over Sammy Kosgei, then Africa 800m record holder, for the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

“Kosgei and Ereng tied and we only needed one of them. Most of the panellists expected that I would pick Kosgei (Sammy) because of his experience over Ereng. But I chose not. I had spotted a huge talent in the young boy Ereng. I knew well that Ereng was focused and determined for a good show. I then decided to gamble with him and he never disappointed me,” said Kosgei.

By then, Ereng was student at Virginia State University and won the 800m gold medal just one year after leaving Starehe Boys Centre.

Ereng, who comes from Turkana South but lived in Cherangany in Trans Nzoia County, returned to the US to become the first Kenyan to take a collegiate coaching job where he was named UTEP’s cross-country and distance coach.

The fete saw Ereng begin producing startling results to become Track and Field Associate Head Coach on April 14, 2010.

Another trail-blazer, Kelai, beat huge odds at his rural home to the pinnacle of global athletics, winning the Commonwealth Games marathon in New Delhi in 2010.

“My parents passed on when I was 13 years old and my uncle had to take care of me. That has always inspired me and why I do the sign of the cross after every race,” said Kelai, who comes from Katilu village in Turkana South.

Kelai is best remembered for leading athletes to Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) in Eldoret two years ago.

And as the clock ticks towards Rio Olympics, Ereng, Kelai and Ebuya’s historic performances will keep inspiring local athletes.