By Jonathan Komen
It is unusual for a Kenyan athlete to enter the athletics millionaires’ club in a local competition without having to board a plane to go abroad.
They race at international marathons longing for the big money as well as seeking the bragging rights to the world’s athletics bonanza –the IAAF World Championships and the Olympic Games.
In fact, most athletes stay away from local competitions for fear of competition swirling around because of the talent glut.
But the tradition continued on Sunday when upstarts Welton Kirui and Agnes Jepkosgei emerged from obscurity to claim victory at the sixth Kass Marathon run in Eldoret, each walking home with Sh1.5 million top prizes.
And their Christmas gifts emerged as a timely consolation to the two runners who made headway to athletics by default, quite literally.
Kirui and Jepkosgei’s athletics scripts are not like that of your typical Kenyan athletes.
They had lofty dreams for their impoverished households –to work hard in academics and deliver their families from the quagmire of poverty.
The brilliant thoughts would soon crash-land since their parents could not raise their school fees.
Kirui, who hails from Chebilbilen Village in Bomet, dropped out of school while in Form Three at Sotik Secondary School.
“Life has been hard for me. I braved numerous challenges while at Njerian Primary School then attended Kabungut Secondary School for two years before heading to Sotik Secondary School but I could not raise fees to complete my secondary education,” Kirui told Game Yetu after the race.
The Kass Marathon showpiece –often billed one of the biggest 42-kilometre contests in Africa –stands out as a stage for the hot talent from Kenya’s rural areas to pull a fast one on the elites. In a way, it has become the quick route into the elite millionaire class before proceeding to the global stage.
The shy-looking Kirui said he was greatly inspired into athletics when he watched Moses Tanui, the two-time Boston Marathon winner, meeting former US President George W Bush at the White House.
Kirui, a sixth born in a family of 11, said: “After I dropped out of school, straight away I decided to take up athletics since this was the only option I felt could change my lifestyle. That was in 2003.”
When he hit the roads running, some of his neighbours mocked him and even asked him to consider trying his hand in other businesses.
“But I am happy my life has changed,” he said.
The 23-year-old Kirui has a fair of competition abroad and just fresh from finishing eighth at the Eindhoven marathon in the Netherlands last month.
The father of one wound up second in Los Angles and Santiago marathons in a sub 2:13.
He is husband to marathoner Caroline Chepkemoi, a sixth-finisher at last year’s Ottawa marathon in Canada and managed by America track and field agent Brad Poore.
But Jepkosgei, the running sibling in her family, ventured into athletics struggling to land into the America track scholarship to pursue a degree in Biology.
The athlete who trains under Dutch manager Gerard Van de Veen had a knack for academic excellence: “Biology was my pet subject. But I later realized I can compete for financial gain.”
Jepkosgei, who hails from Kamok village in Marakwet, competed in Sao Paulo half marathon in Brazil and other races.
