Kenyan 2:02 marathon runner Titus Ekiru receives 10-year ban

Following on from recent record breaking performances in the marathon by Kenyan runners, it was announced at the start of this week that Titus Ekiru from Kenya was banned for a decade after twice failing a drugs test. 

He was up to now one of the top marathon runners from Kenya with a marathon personal best of 2:02:57 which had placed him on joint 6th of the all time marathon record list.

The two positive tests in 2021 came at the Milan Marathon where he tested positive for triamcinolone acetonide and at the Abu Dhabi Marathon where he tested positive for a synthetic opioid. He was also found guilty of tampering with two other samples.

His ban which runs from June 28, 2022 until June 27, 2032 will effectively end the competitive running career of the 32-year old.

It also seems he colluded with a 'high-ranking doctor' at a Kenyan hospital who administered some of the banned substances. It raises the obvious question of how rife is this in Kenya and some of the other African countries? Why was he only caught when he was tested in Milan and Abu Dhabi? Is there any drug testing going on within Kenya?

If there is no effective ongoing tests then athletes can train away on performance enhancing drugs within the country and wait for the substances to clear their system before traveling to competitions where they will be tested.

The full story is on the Athletics Weekly website.

A list of the wins for Titus Ekiru can be seen on Wikipedia.

Street in Kenya named after coach Br.Colm O'Connell

As many of you may know, Brother Colm O'Connell is a coach in Iten, Kenya and coached David Rudisha to a world record and an Olympic Gold medal in the 800m at the 2012 London Olympics.

At a recent ceremony in Kenya, a street in Kenya was named after the Mallow man.

Story HERE

Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya runs a 2:00:25 Marathon

In a highly publicised event, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya ran a 2 hour and 25 second marathon in Italy on Saturday the 6th of May 2017. While the time was more than two and a half minutes faster than the official world record of 2:02:57 set by Dennis Kimetto in 2014, it won't count as a new record due to several factors.

a) He was joined by teams of pacers which isn't allowed in a normal marathon.

b) The team of pacers adopted an arrowhead formation behind a Tesla electric car with a giant clock timer on it. This would have greatly reduced the wind resistance.

c) Kipchoge was given sports drinks delivered by helpers on mopeds, another practice not allowed in major marathons.

NIKE are reported to have spent in the region of 2 million dollars in the sub 2 hour marathon attempt with Kipchoge alone said to have got $1 million to participate in the attempt instead of doing a major city marathon.

As you can see, the pace was an incredible 4m 26s per mile for 26.2 miles. He was on course at the half way mark with a time of 59m 58s but slowed slightly in the second half.

Afterwards, Kipchoge said in an interview “This journey has been a long one. It has been hard. It has taken seven good months of preparation and dedication but I am a happy to run a marathon in just over two hours. I think the world now is just 25 seconds away.”


While the time was not an official record, it shows that the current record is under threat. Kipchoge is expected this at some stage in the future.

Closing stage of attempt...

Fire at St.Patrick's in Iten, Kenya

Many of you will be aware of Brother Colm O'Connell from Mallow and how he coached the top 800m world record holder David Rudisha. The school where he teaches suffered a major fire today.

Although it may not be related, Kenya is suffering a spate of arson attacks at schools at present.

"St. Patrick's fire, unconfirmed report - No casualties. One dormitory burned down."

St: Patrick's High School Iten dormitory on fire!!! Whats wrong with our schools? Something need to be done. pic.twitter.com/tXtpuskYoF

— David Rudisha MBS (@rudishadavid) July 26, 2016

Video clip on the current Javelin World Champion Julius Yego from Kenya

Julius Yego from Kenya is the current World Champion in the Javelin. In a country that is associated with distance running, he started out without a coach and watched video clips on YouTube to improve his technique. In 2015, he became the World Champion.

Go Pro have just released this video clip...

Russian & Kenyan athletes may miss 2016 Olympics...

There were two big news stories yesterday regarding doping and whether countries will be able to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Kenya...On Thursday, the compliane committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) said that Kenya was "non-compliant" citing issues with anti-doping legislation. There is now a very real risk that some of the World's best athletes may miss the Olympics. More on BBC Sport

Russia....The New York Times ran a story showing the extent of the state involvement in covering up doping. The story is HERE

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced today that they want an immediate investigation. BBC Sport

Doping not rife in Kenya - David Rudisha coach Colm O'Connell

Brother Colm O'Connell from Mallow is coach to the 800m Olympic Champion & World record holder David Rudisha.

In an recent interview with the BBC, he denied that doping was rife on Kenya. This was after the country missed a deadline to prove to the World Anti-Doping Agency it is tackling cheating in athletics.

The short interview can be seen HERE

Julius Yego of Kenya...from watching YouTube clips to World Championship Gold

One of the most amazing results to come out of the current World Championships in Beijing has been that of Julius Yego of Kenya winning Gold in the Javelin.

Growing up, he wasn't fast enough to be serious runner so opted for the javelin instead, a sport that is not normally associated with Kenya. With no-one to coach him, he started off watching video clips on YouTube on how to improve his technique.

Now aged 26, his throw of 92.72 metres last Wednesday won the Gold medal and was just 8cms shy of the World Championship record. From watching video clips on YouTube to Gold in about a decade.

The remarkable Julius Yego of Kenya

When you think of athletics and Kenya, the first thing that springs to mind is of course running. From 800m to the Marathon, Kenyan athletes are very much to the fore.

One of the most famous up and coming stars in the world of athletics is Julius Yego of Kenya. In an country full of runners, his chosen specialty is the javelin.

Having decided at the ago of 13 that he was never going to make it as a runner, he started off with a wooden javelin. With no-one locally to coach him properly in the sport, he took to watching video clips on Youtube to improve his technique.

By 2006, he had set a Kenyan junior record. By 2010, he won a bronze at the African championships. After getting a sports scholarship to train with some of the best javelin throwers in Finland, he qualified for the London Olympics in 2012 where he finished 12th. At the World Championships in Moscow in 2013, he set a new Kenyan national record to finish an impressive 4th. Finally in 2014, he won Gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. A remarkable journey for someone who started out watching clips on Youtube.

There is a full article on Julius Yego on the IAAF website.

Video clip in this earlier post from 2012.

800m Olympic champion David Rudisha says his best is yet to come...

In a recent interview, the 800m World record holder and Olympic champion David Rudisha says the world has yet to see him at his best. After winning the Kenyan Sports Personality of the Year, he said..."One would say I have it all…a World title, Olympic title and the world record but I always have something to motivate me". His future plans are to win the World Championships in Moscow in 2013 followed by Beijing in 2015. After that, he said........"From there, I will focus on defending my Olympic title at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro.  I also want to be referred to as double World champion, triple World champion and double Olympic champion”.

In the London Olympics last August, he set a new world record time of 1:40.91 in the 800m without the aid of pacemakers. As to whether he could break it again, he said......"I can start talking about improving that record now before I see how my training goes. Maybe until mid next year or in March is when I will know how my body is responding.”

Rudisha also paid tribute to his coach Colm O’Connel from Cork for nurturing his talent and transforming him to a world beater. “I want to thank the people who have contributed to my success especially my coach brother Colm, who has been with me since I was a youngster in 2004,” said Rudisha.

Julius Yego...the 'YouTube' athlete from Kenya

Mention the words 'Kenya' and 'Olympics' and visions of world class medium and long distance runners spring to mind. It therefore comes as a suprise that Julius Yego will be representing Kenya in the Javelin for the very first time at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

While being the first Kenyan Olympic javelin thrower might seem a novelty in itself, what is really unusual is how he came to qualify. Having started the javelin as a youth and having no coach capable of training him in the technique, Yego turned to watching YouTube clips in Cyber Cafes to improve his style. He watched clips of world record holder, Czech Republic’s Jan Zelezny, Olympic titleholder and two-time champion, Andreas Thorkildsen (Norway) and former world titleholder, Tero Pitkamaki.

In 2003, he competed in the high school regional championships. In 2006, he won the national junior title and broke the Kenyan junior record with a throw of 67 metres. He won his first national title in the javelin at the age of nineteen in 2008 and defended it in both 2009 and 2010. He earned his first national call up in 2010 and threw a personal best of 74.51 m to take the bronze medal at the 2010 African Championships in Athletics, which was held in Nairobi. In 2011, he still did not have a throwing coach and despite this, he won a fourth straight Kenyan title and then went to the 2011 All-Africa Games and became Kenya's first ever champion in the event, throwing a Kenyan national record mark of 78.34 m.



In respect of this achievement, the IAAF (the sport's governing body) gave Yego a six-month scholarship to train alongside elite javelin coaches in Finland, with the aim of preparing him for the 2012 London Olympics. After two months of training at the IAAF-accredited centre in Kuortane, Finland, Yego returned to Kenya in April 2012 and threw a new record of 79.95 m. This was within the Olympic "B" standard for the event and he will become the first Kenyan person to compete in the javelin at the Olympics. On Sunday, the 22nd of July, he improved the Kenyan record again at Finnish Elite Games Series event in Kuortane by throwing 81.12 metres. In a post competition interview, he said..."I must admit that this kind of a result was a surprise for me, too. I’ve thrown so far only a couple of times in training. It’s been a good time here in Finland and I enjoyed a lot this atmosphere today. I feel very good, just going to London to participate in the Olympics feels very good. Being my first time, I do not want to say I expect a lot of things there. Just being a participant in the Olympics is good for me. If I make the finals, I will be very happy.”

The qualifying round for the final is on the 8th of August at 7:05pm.

BBC Podcast...The lifecycle of an athlete...Kenya

As part of the Human Race Series, Claudia Hammond of the BBC World Service travels to Kenya to look at the education system and culture behind some of the most successful athletes in the world. She interviews Olympic legend Kip Keino, Br. Colm O'Connell in Iten as well as a Danish researcher who believes that a 1:55 Marathon is possible!

The link to the 34 minute podcast is HERE. (There is a 5 minute segment on swimming from 17:15 to 22:30 if you want to avoid it)

Marathon record to go in April???

Consider the following statistic : - The qualifying 'A' standard for the Marathon for the 2012 London Olympics is 2:15. Some 150 Kenyan men have reached this standard. Out of those 150, Kenya can only send three to the Olympic games.

That is the current situation that faces some of the best Marathon runners in the world. So many world class runners yet only three can be picked. The final team will be selected on the 30th of April so it will be a case of posting an incredibly fast time between now and then. The person with the fastest time so far is Patrick Makau who won the Berlin Marathon last September to set a new Marathon record of 2:03:38.

Coming up in April, there are two Marathons with flat and fast courses.....Rotterdam on the 15th of April and London on the 22nd. The problem of course is that anyone who runs in London (Mutai and Makau) will know exactly what is required to qualify so anyone running Rotterdam will have to set a really fast time.

In an interview, the London Marathon race director David Bedford said..."It's a good bet the men's record will go. The Kenyans know only one way to race, and they're all fighting for an Olympic spot. Someone could carve a chunk off that world record. The week before our race, Moses Mosop (the 2011 Chicago Marathon champ and Boston runner-up) runs in Rotterdam. If he breaks the world record, the Kenyans running in London will know they need to break it again just to make the Olympics."

Some of those taking part in London...
Elite Men                     Personal Best
Emmanuel Mutai (Kenya)    2:04:40
Patrick Makau (Kenya)    2:03:38
Wilson Kipsang (Kenya)    2:03:42
Abel Kirui (Kenya)    2:05:04
Vincent Kipruto (Kenya)    2:05:13
Martin Lel (Kenya)    2:05:15

In Rotterdam.......
Moses Mosop finished second in Apr 2011 at the Boston Marathon in 03.02.06. (4 seconds slower than Geoffrey Mutai). His time was not recognised as a world record because the course in Boston does not comply with all the conditions of the IAAF. 

Interesting times ahead.

Man on a Mission...Video about the famous Iten training camp in Kenya

Back in January, I had a post up about Irishman Brother Colm O'Connell in Kenya with links to some newspaper articles. He is famous worldwide for training some of the best athletes in the world at the famous Iten training camp in the highlands of Kenya.

This video (approx 55 mins long) shows Eamonn Coghlan at the camp, looking at how the athletes there train and finding out what is the key to their success.

Elite training in Kenya...

These are two online newspaper articles that I came across recently...

In the first article, the Independent looks at Brother Colm O'Connell who is a 63-year-old Irish missionary and retired teacher. When he arrived in Kenya in 1976, he was a geography teacher and got involved later in the athletics training programme. After a short period, he took over and  ended up training some of the best distance athletes in the world. Despite that, he seldom leaves Iten in Kenya and has been present to see any of his athletes win a major championship gold medal in either the Olympic Games or World Championships. Article HERE

Update...(Telegraph version HERE)

In the second article, The Telegraph looks at Britain's Mo Farah and his high altitude training in Iten, Kenya. While he might be more used to the facilities in Oregon as part of the Nike Project, things in Kenya are a bit more basic with hazards with donkeys on the track!  “There were donkeys all over the place,” he said. “I tried to shout something to scare them off but they just stood there exactly in lane one. I had to go on a different part of the track.” The article is HERE