This is Kaptagat, the town where the best runners in the world train

“Welcome to Eldoret, the city of champions,” reads a sign at the airport of the western Kenyan city, the center of a bucolic region that has impressed the world as the birthplace of some of history’s greatest athletes .

Thirty kilometers from Eldoret stands the elite training center of the town of Kaptagat, the nest of champions located at approximately 2,400 meters above sea level, in the middle of the Rift Valley.

A door with blue bars gives entrance to a tight enclosure that keeps the secrets of Kenyan runners’ dazzling success in long-distance and middle-distance events.

Before dawn in the light rain, a group of raincoat-clad athletes quietly gathered on a nearby muddy road, among them the “king of the marathon”, Eliud Kipchoge, and the 1,500 meter record holder, Faith Kipyegon.

Their silhouettes usually run on red clay paths between eucalyptus and acacia forests, but this time the bad weather forces them to test their feet on an asphalt road where they avoid the noisy “boda weddings” (motorcycle taxis).

They ran thirty kilometers at the top of their lungs in a weekly exercise that “went well” despite the fact that “it rained a little,” declaration to EFE, back at the Kaptagat venue, a Kipchoge “concentrated” preparing for at the Paris Olympic Games 2024, where he faced his “biggest challenge”: winning a third Olympic gold medal in a marathon.

Maybe with ease

Surrounded by farms with farting cows, the camp welcomes from Monday to Saturday twenty-five athletes who share training and a frugal life governed by discipline, without distinction between stars and juniors.

“Everyone is equal,” said marathoner Laban Korir, president of the complex, founded in 2002 by former runner-turned-coach Patrick Sang and Dutch athlete representation agency Global Sports Communication.

Back then, the center lacked running water and its tenants had to get it from a well.

The facilities also had no electricity, until solar panels were eventually installed.

With almost military rigor, athletes perform household chores such as cooking once a week, cleaning bathrooms and taking out the trash.

A blue-roofed main building houses the male runners, who sleep two to a room; while the second building with arched entrances includes women’s bedrooms and a physiotherapy room, among other rooms.

In the back is a steaming kitchen and a wooden dining room with oilcloth-covered tables where cell phone use is prohibited.

“We bake our bread here. We don’t use preservatives,” explains Korir, pointing to a metal oven, before revealing a little-known Kipyegon talent: “Faith makes the best chapati (flatbread that is very popular in Kenya).”

Sitting on a bench after eating “beans, potatoes and rice”, the “queen of the midfield” responded to the praise with laughter.

“Oh, yes! We try to cook ourselves, especially on Thursdays. We call it the special meal of the week. So we usually cook chapati,” said Kipyegon, who will be looking for his third Olympic gold in the 1,500 meters , in EFE.

“We enjoy sports together. That is our main goal when we are here at camp,” says the 30-year-old athlete.

After an intense exercise session with aerobic balls and weights led by physiotherapist Eric Muthuri (“Up, down, relax!”), the athletes relax on the garden grass or enjoy a cup of milk tea sitting on the chairs.

Little room for distractions

Although there is little room for distraction at Kaptagat, runners can watch television or read a book from a small library, whose shelves include works such as Barack’s “A Promised Land.” Obama.

“You can gain knowledge in books and knowledge can help you go places,” said Kipchoge, a voracious reader whose favorite book is Spencer Johnson’s “Who Moved My Cheese, tells EFE?”

The best marathoner of all time, 39, reveals that this motivational bestseller taught him to “change” and “adapt to any situation.”

Many young people in Kaptagat find inspiration in Kipchoge, the only athlete to run the mythical distance of the marathon (42.195 kilometers) in less than two hours, although that mark – broken in Vienna in 2019 – has not been officially verified.

The legendary distance runner is the idol of runner Daniel Mateiko, 25, who admires his “personality, discipline and hard work.”

“This camp is a good place. When you are here, you feel good. You have peace of mind (…). It’s all about training, nothing more,” Mateiko, who dreams of competing in the 10,000 meters in the Games , told EFE from Paris.

The exploits of these heroes are celebrated with humble trees planted in the grounds along with commemorative plaques, such as the orange tree that remembers Kipyegon breaking the world records at 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters in 2023.

But despite success (or failure), everyone in Kaptagat, according to Mateiko, learns a lesson: “Sports teach you to be a person when you run with people.”