Lornah
Kiplagat wins women’s 10km in Glasgow
Doug Gillon for the IAAF
19 May 2002 - Glasgow, Scotland - The altitude training camp
established by Kenyan endurance runner Lornah Kiplagat is gaining increasing credibility.
Kiplagat, and two of her protégés from the camp which she funded and founded at Iten, ran
away from an international field in Glasgow yesterday (Sunday, May 19) to win a 10,000
metres road race exclusively for women.
It was her third successive victory in the Scottish event, the Britannic Asset Management 10k. It attracted a starting line up of 7952 women, a record for the race, which was launched 10 years earlier with a modest field of 800. It is now the largest women-only 10k in the UK. If that represents a sports revolution in Britain, it would be foolish to ignore the rumblings of a potentially greater revolution in women¹s athletics which seems to be quietly brewing in Kenya, as Kiplagat revealed in a remarkable interview.
Despite having to run alone from four kilometres, with a stiff westerly breeze in her face, Kiplagat recorded the world¹s second fastest time of the year for the distance, 31 minutes 14 seconds. This has been bettered only by Paula Radcliffe, when she beat Kiplagat in Puerto Rico. The 28-year-old Kiplagat, who once held the world five-mile road best, and currently has the world best for 20 kilometres (63:54), established the altitude camp in the Rift Valley less than two years ago, because she believed some shoe companies were “exploiting and mistreating” her country-women, but also because she says the running culture in her homeland affords insufficient opportunities to women.
A multiple marathon winner, most recently in Osaka this year, Kiplagat won by almost a minute from Linah Cheruiyot (32:08), runner-up for the second successive year, and Catherine Kwambei (32:14). The pair were classmates at St Patrick¹s famous school in Iten, cradle of endurance running in Kenya, where they were coached by the legendary Irish lay brother, Colm O¹Connell. The girls were members of the same world junior cross-country team, at Aix les Bains, finishing fifth and fourth respectively, but both retired for several years, each giving birth to a son and daughter. Kwambei was fourth in the world junior championships, over 1500m. Each said it would have been impossible to return to the highest level without the facilities provided at the camp which Kiplagat has established.
Yelena Burykina, the 30-year-old Russian winner of the Moscow half marathon a fortnight earlier, out-sprinted the two-time former winner, Natalie Harvey, of Australia, edging her for fourth by a single second, with 32:35. Another former inhabitant of Camp Kiplagat, Catherine Mutra, was sixth, in 33:49, seven seconds ahead of Rosemary Ryan. The Irish woman was 19th in the 4000m race at the world cross in Dublin, and a member of her country¹s bronze-medal team there.
Harvey, a double Olympian, voiced anger at her omission from the Aussie team for the Commonwealth Games, which open in Manchester, England, at the end of July. She plans a series of agressive races this summer to underline the error of their ways. “Too late, but I¹ll show them,” said the 27-year-old physiotherapist.
Danish veteran Gitte Karlshoj was eighth (34:42), just ahead of last year¹s Dublin Marathon winner, Debbie Robinson, from Nottingham, and the leader from the host nation, World and European Cross-country championship runner Susan Partridge. Among the also-rans, in fourteenth place, was Catriona Morrison, Glasgow¹s world age-group triathlon champion, who had punctured less than 24 hours earlier in that sport¹s trials for the Commonwealth Games.
Kiplagat said she was prepared to help improve the quality of endurance running in Scotland which has been in decline since it enjoyed the talents of former world 10,000m champion Liz McColgan, and European indoor and outdoor 3000m champion Yvonne Murray. “I have spoken with officials from the City of Glasgow about the possibility of introducing scholarships for Scots athletes in Kenya,” said Kiplagat. The city¹s athletics development officer, Brian Donaldson, is optimistic.
Cheruiyot has completed seven races, four at 10 kilometres, and three half marathons in Europe this spring, with significant success. Among these was a 31:19 10k win in Germany, and seventh at the world half marathon (69:39). Cheruiyot¹s husband, Charles, the 1984 Olympic 5000m finalist, has been looking after their two children, aged seven and four, with the help of her sister, while tending their 70-acre farm at Eldama Ravine. “I go home tomorrow, and I¹m looking forward to seeing my children again,” said Linah. The massed ranks of club and fun-runners tailed back from the start, had greeted the arrival of the elite field at the front with prolonged spontaneous applause, bringing a lump to many throats. Then the drums started throbbing. International athletics is used to their beat. Their rhythm routinely accompanies the exploits of the Ethiopian emperor of men¹s endurance running, Haile Gebrselassie. Sheboom, an all-women Glasgow drum ensemble, conjured a deep pulsating vibration, memorably sending the field on its way. No Haile here, just 7952 lassies.
The final runners to pass the start, mums pushing infants in prams, took more than 16 minutes, by which time Kiplagat was more than half way home, and already some 100 metres clear of her nearest rivals. The Kenyan trio ran together, but Kiplagat broke clear after 4000m, was 30m clear at halfway, and drew relentlessly ahead. Her final three kilometres took just 9:22.
Kilometres split times of winner Lornah Kiplagat:
1k 3min 10sec
2k 6.20, 3:10
3k 9.28, 3.08
4k 12.33, 3.05
5k 15.37, 3.04
6k 18.54, 3.17
7k 21.52, 2.58
8k 24.55, 3.03
9k 28.08, 3.13
10k 31.14, 3.06
She was pleased with her time in Glasgow: “my third best ever, after my two wins in the world 10,000m championship (30:52, and 30:58), at the Peach Tree, in Atlanta, Georgia.” Yet Kiplagat discounts contesting Kenya¹s Commonwealth trials: “it was never in my plans,” though Cheruiyot may do so. “I hope to be back for the Great Scottish Run half-marathon later this summer,” added Kiplagat.
As to the future, the 10,000m at the 2004 Olympics is her goal, despite marathon successes which suggest the longer distance might prove more rewarding. She had a warning for London marathon winner Radcliffe, who favours the marathon for the 2004 Olympics. “I won¹t do the marathon in Athens,” she said. “It will be too hot. It could end my career, and I don¹t want that.” The Kenyan trio’s winnings were modest: £300, plus 150 of the sponsor¹s units for Kiplagat, with £250 plus 100 for second, and £200, plus 50 for third, plus unspecified participation fees, but the Scottish city has a reputation for making celebrity athletes welcome. Kiplagat, who lives at Groet, in Hollland, with her fiance, was surprisingly frank about the domination of her sport by men in Kenya, and her upbringing which prompted her to establish the camp.
Female circumcision is not your average subject for pre-race interview, but feminist Kiplagat is neither an average runner, nor an average lady. She introduced the topic, routine in her culture, as she spoke of the route from her birth-place at Kipkabus to her present status as a wealthy woman and articulate champion of women¹s rights.
“It¹s almost impossible in Kenya for a girl even to get a passport,” she said, speaking of “exploitation and mistreatment” of girls by commercial shoe companies. “If they don¹t make it, they¹re dumped, often with no education.”
To make a point, she also accepts male athletes in the camp. Many are the elite of her country. “They must pay for their stay,” she said, “but I support the women. The men must take their share of the work, or leave. Men expect women to cook and clean for them, even clean their shoes after training. It¹s degrading and disgusting.
“In Swahili, we have an expression: Œumoja ni nguvie¹ togetherness is strength. In English you would say: ‘United we stand.’ So we work together. If the women prepare the meal, the men clean up, and vice versa. The women could not get the hang of it at first. They were embarrassed. But not now.”
She spends some of her considerable income from international races on the camp. “Many girls have now broken through, like Linah and Catherine.” She ensures that those who fail to make it, get an education. She funds one at university in Amsterdam, on a physiotherapy course, another in Germany, doing mechanical engineering. With the help of Kenyan athletics journalist Isaak Omolo, she has also arranged two medical scholarships, through friends in Puerto Rico.
She admits her family is unusual: “My father died two years ago, aged 80. He was more like a grandpa. Yet he told me that if he caught me working for my brothers, obeying their orders, he would break my hands. He told my eldest sister that she did not require to be circumcised if she did not wish it. That was very unusual, for the practice was widespread then, in 1954. Women who are not circumcised often cannot find a husband. He told my sister that if nobody wanted to marry her, fine. She could stay home. She is now a veterinary graduate.”
Kiplagat¹s father had 12 children, six by each of two wives, yet socially was enormously enlightened. “I don¹t know where he got that from,” said Lornah. “We were lucky. Women regularly work until they go into labour. Women have so much to do. You see men lying by the side of the roads, doing nothing, even in cities. Absolutely zero, but every time you see a woman, she is hurrying. She has work to do. So in my camp, we share all the work. This will not make me popular with some of my people at home, but I believe it is only fair.”
Kiplagat¹s husband manages the racing programme of the girls in the camp. “He takes 15% of what they win,” said Lornah. “That goes towards the cost of running the camp, but otherwise, I find the money for everything else.”
Her philosophy is sparking a revolution for Kenyan female athletes. The clean sweep in Glasgow is just a start. Soon, they may be as dominant a world force in the sport as their men. If so, the debt to the pioneering Kiplagat will be considerable.
Britannic Asset Management 10k. Top 15: 1 L Kiplagat 31min 14sec, 2 L Cheruyiot 32:08, C Kwambei (all Kenya) 32:14, 4 Y Burykina (Russia) 32:35, 5 N Harvey (Australia) 32:36, 6 C Mutwa (Kenya) 33:49, 7 R Ryan (Eire) 33:56, 8 G Karlshoj (Denmark, veteran) 34:42, 9 D Robinson (Nottingham) 34:49, 10 S Partridge (Scotland) 34:57, 11 M McDonnell 35:48, 12 K Waugh 36:10, 13 A Dickie (all England) 36:13, 14 C Morrison (Scotland) 36:18, 15 F Florence (Scotland, veteran) 36:24.
