Camp Summary

The 2019 ‘Running With The Kenyans’ camp was our 5th Special Edition camp in collaboration with Adharanand Finn, author of the critically acclaimed book ‘Running with the Kenyans’. 7 Guests from across the world join us for this 2 week running camp in Iten Kenya. As well as our usual expert coaches and staff we were joined throughout the camp by Adharanand Finn and Godfrey Kiprotich. Godfrey featured in Adharanand’s book and is a popular figure among the local running community here in Iten having been an elite athlete, coach and athlete manager. For most of our guests it was their first time visiting Kenya so being able to share stories with our staff and guest hosts was a real treat. We heard all about Adharanand’s experiences of living and training in Kenya and re-lived the stories he wrote about in his famous book with the very ‘characters’ who featured in it.

For a true taste of training the Kenyan way we joined local workouts and ran alongside local athletes. We joined the famous Iten Fartlek on both Thursdays of the camp as well as a Tuesday morning track session at Kamariny where we shared the track with world class elite athletes. It is always inspiring to see these guys train and to have the opportunity to share the track alongside them was a real honour.

Throughout the camp we met stars of the local running scene, including meeting multiple European record holder Julien Wanders which was was a real highlight. Our busy itinerary also included a tour of the famous St Patrick’s High School where we met Brother Colm O’Connell, one of the most successful distance coaches of all time, who had plenty of wisdom to share with our guests as well as introducing us his star runners including Rhonex Kipruto who will represent Kenya in the World Championships later this summer. 

A highlight for many was running the Fluorspar route – a famous run consisting of 4000ft of elevation gain over 21km. It is one of the most challenging half marathon routes in the world and has become an iconic training venue in Kenyan distance running. Many of Kenya’s best known runners have run it as part of their training. It was an early start as we headed down the valley bright and early aiming to be finished before the late morning heat hit us. The run starts at the Fluorspar mine and we ran in glorious bright sunshine and a stunning backdrop. Although the course is challenging the scenery is just as breathtaking and all our guests said that it was well worth the climb once they reached the top. Our coaching team and run guides were with us every step of the way for support, (and drinks handed from the van) and there are always plenty of well wishing locals offering encouragement along the way. Many choose to run the full route but with our vehicle support on hand to collect anyone who wanted to run a shorter distance, everyone was catered for. 

Aside from the running our guests had plenty of time to make the most of our coaching teams vast knowledge with seminars, ‘Coaches Corner’ sessions and practical classes.  Coach Hugo spoke about his experience as a professional marathon runner in the past as well as his coaching philosophies and how these can be applied to our guests training once they return home. We discussed everything from the Kenyan way of training to some key scientific principles of endurance running.

Camp Gallery 

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