Racing thirteen times from April 30th to June 11th and winning on eleven occasions, is impressive by any standards. When you include seven 10,000m races into the equation and running 28:51 at altitude, even Ron Hill, Dave Bedford and the hardened heroes from yesteryear would have to be impressed.
This is what John Kemboi did in the summer of 2008 during the Kenyan Track and Field season. This hectic schedule - which will be explained later - resulted in Kemboi missing out on international selection as he stayed under the radar in Kenyan running circles.
This didn’t last long as Kemboi proclaimed himself as one of the next potential distance talents in Kenya’s rich history when he won the National Junior Cross Country Championships in February to gain selection for the World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan – ultimately finishing tenth.
To get to this point John Kemboi’s life has been one of hardship and struggle. Of course, this is a common story with Kenyan athletes but John Kemboi’s story is exceptional.
As one of the Marakwet Tribe, John Kemboi, was displaced and orphaned in 1992/3 during troubles in the North of Kenya. For the next nine years he lived in the area in the backyard of a neighbour minding cattle. His pay was one meal a day.
With free primary education Kemboi was able to attend school working before and after class. It was here he took up running but never trained much due to his work commitments at home.
After primary school, Kemboi decided to leave his home and travel closer to Eldoret in search of a job herding cattle. Secondary education was out of his reach because it was (and still is) a private system. The cost for a student is on average €500 per year which is more than the average annual wage for a Kenyan farmer in the Rift Valley region.
Kemboi managed to find himself a home with a young couple who offered him a bed and a little money – 500KS per month. They also enrolled him into the local secondary school. Again he followed the same routine as before, working early morning and late evening attending school in between. When it came around to the young couple having to pay for Kemboi’s school fees, they couldn’t make up the full amount. It was here that Kemboi’s athletic abilities would come to his rescue.
In December 2007, Kemboi’s ability had been observed by famed distance running coach Bro. Colm O’Connell’s scouts at the Tuskys Warang cross country series and was targeted as a possible recruit. Kemboi finished 9th that day in the junior men’s race.
It was after this performance that Bro. Colm told athletics agent, Ian Chaney, about what he felt was Kemboi’s potential diamond-in-the-rough talent.
Chaney takes up the story: “When I met John, his school fees had not been paid for two and a half years. I cleared all the debts in the school and discussed with John the possibility of him joining my group which was being coached under Brother Colm. He still had not shown any reason for us to think he had the talent to make the grade at the top. I spoke with him at great length about his realistic expectations and I promised that I would offer him some shoes each year and I would sponsor him with my own money. I bonded well with him and I knew if all else failed, I could find him a place in an American college.”
Kemboi’s talent was to sparkle though in May 2008. Due to a lack of proper structure and guidance in Kenyan Schools’ athletics, John found himself pushed into a 10,000m/5000m double on the opening day of the qualifiers. In Kenya, you have Zonal, North Regional, Regional, Provincial, National, Tri- Angular and major championship Trials every summer, for example World Junior Track and Field Championships.
The competitions are one week apart with the top three progressing from every championship.
John’s racing schedule was as follows:
April 30th 2008 - Eldoret Zonal Championships
10,000m - 1st
5000m - 1st
May 7th 2008 - North Rift Valley Regional Championships
10,000m - 1st
5000m- 1st
May 14th 2008 - Rift Valley Regional Championships
10,000m - 1st
5000m -1st
May 21st 2008 - Provincial Championships
10,000m - 1st
3000m - 1st
May 28th 2008 - National Championships
10,000m - 1st (28.51A)
3000m- 1st (8:01A - Last lap 54 seconds)
June 4th 2008 - Triangular Championships (Primary V Secondary V College Championships)
10,000m - 1st
3000m- 2nd
June 11th 2008 -Kenyan World Junior Trials Nairobi
10,000m- 6th (29:27)
As can be seen from the exhaustive race schedule, it ruined any chance of Kemboi making the team for the World Junior Track and Field Championships in Poland. The only other athlete that was racing Kemboi in the Schools dropped out of the race in Nairobi - all the other athletes in the race had no schools championships to worry about.
“I was in attendance during the national schools and only thirty minutes separated his two races,” said Chaney. “It was remarkable how he managed to pull off this feat. I knew then we had a talented athlete on our hands.”
After this extensive and intensive period of racing Bro. Colm gave Kemboi five months rest. It was during this time that he was living well for the first time in his life. He had no worries and was eating healthily. The rest from running was giving him time to put on weight- he was even skinnier than your average Kenyan.
When he returned to training in December, Kemboi’s target was to make the Kenyan team for the World Junior Cross Country in Jordan. After four weeks training, Bro. Colm introduced some races. His route to the Kenyan Junior trials was the following:
AK Eldoret Cross Country, January 10th, 15th; Discovery Kenya Cross Country, January 25th, 10th; District Cross Country Championships, February, 2nd; Provincial Cross Country Nandi Hills, February 2009, 3rd; National Cross Country Trials, February, 1st.
This more measured approach saw Kemboi representing Kenya for the first time and indeed flying in an airplane for the first time.
To this day no blood relatives are known. Kemboi’s only guardians are the young couple who accepted him in Eldoret, Bro Colm O Connell and his manager Ian Chaney.
Kemboi will sit his final secondary school exams in November 2009 and begin training professionally under the coaching of Bro Colm in Iten. He has signed for adidas. What can he say? “Grow old with me – the best is yet to be.”
Factfile:
Date of Birth: 5th July 1990
School : Kemeliet Secondary School Moi Ben (Form 4) the only Junior male athlete on the current Kenyan team for Jordan that is still in school
Personal Bests:
3000m- 8:01A June 2008
5000m- 14:06A 2007
10,000m - 28:51A 2008
Major Achievements:
2nd National Kenyan Secondary schools Cross Country April 2008
1st National Secondary Schools Track And Field 10,000m June 2008
1st National Secondary Schools Track And Field 3000m June 2008
1st National Junior Cross Country February 2009
(Picture courtesy of Chase Chaney International - thanks!)
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