Monday 14 February 2011

Edwin Kipyego

I share a room with Edwin and he is probably the best athlete we have here living on camp. Some of you may recognise his name as in 2010 he had the following race record in the UK:

1st Reading Half Marathon
1st Bristol Half Marathon
2nd Robin Hood Half Marathon
3rd Swansea 10km (28.39 on a windy day)
1st Great Eastern Half Marathon (pb 62.16)
1st Victory 5
2nd Cardiff Half Marathon
1st Birmingham Half Marathon
1st Barns Green Half Marathon

Edwin was born on 16/11/90 in the hospital here in Iten. He has always loved running and as a youngster was inspired by people like Paul Tergat. When Edwin went to primary school he used to get up at 5a.m. every day so that he could go for a run before the rest of his family was awake, and he still had time to get all his chores done before school.

At High School he started to compete in the 3000m Steeplechase but didn't like the event, so started to race the 5000m and 10000m in which he was always near to the front. After being spotted by a manager he was soon training hard for road races an his first race abroad was a half marathon in Hamburg where he ran 65minutes.

Since then he has switched managers and from March 2010 has competed for the run-fast management team. This year he expects to run under 61 minutes for the half marathon and having trained with him for the last 6 weeks I'm sure he will.

It looks as though Edwin will first compete in the UK this year in the Bath Half Marathon, give him a cheer if you see him.


Edwin winning the 2010 Birmingham Half Marathon


p.s. Thanks to Finn and family for a very nice lunch yesterday, Raymond was very impressed with the lunch, I think he has thoughts of asking your cook to marry him!

2 comments:

  1. Hi Tom

    Just thought I would put a comment so you know there are people out here reading your blog (and enjoying it).

    I'd love to get out to Kenya one day. I couldn't manage to do what you have done but a couple of weeks at the HATC would be like a fantasy running camp for me and my training partners.

    Looking forward to seeing all your hard work pay off in the coming months.

    cheers
    Simon Ward

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  2. Hi Tom

    I was out training with the same group in November and Peter McHugh told me you were due to go out there. I've only just discovered your blog and enjoy living vicariously through it as I've been to Iten four times but only for three weeks each time as that's all I can get off from work. I'd love to do the kind of long stint that you are doing. I'm also impressed as not that many athletes in the UK would be bold enough to link up with a training group like that for that long rather than go out and train with their own training partners, or just go somewhere more European at altitude because it's less out of their comfort zone.

    Give my best wishes to Edwin, Kenn and all the other athletes in the camp.

    Hywel Care

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