Emily's Return to Iten, Kenya's Home of Running

Over the past few weeks, DBA Africa has been delighted to welcome back our friend Emily, who has been supporting a number of our projects on the ground. A keen runner herself, Emily recently returned to Iten, the small highland town in Elgeyo-Marakwet known worldwide as the Home of Champions, to pick up where she left off on her last visit. It's a trip she has been looking forward to for months.

The Story Behind the Champions

To most of the world, Iten means world champions, sub-two-hour marathon ambitions and elite athletes from every continent coming to train at altitude. Emily's experience shows a different side of the town.

"Everyone sees Iten and thinks of the world champions and the sub-two-hour marathons. It's where champions from across the world come to train. But what people rarely see is who, and how many, are on the journey to success, and at what cost. 8,000 of the 13,000 registered Kenyan athletes live here.

At the end of a race, it's first, second and third. How many people remember the others? A podium place is life-changing, and the opportunities it brings mean far more to some people than to others. For most, everyday life is a long way from the life that prize money could bring."

Talent Is Everywhere, Opportunity Is Not

In a place where the standard is so consistently high, the difference between a podium finish and the rest of the field can be tiny. Emily asks an uncomfortable question: when everyone is that good, who decides who even gets to race?

"When you are in a reservoir of talent like Iten, it is hard to tell apart those who finish in the top three and those who don't. When the standard is so similar, in one of the fastest running nations in the world, if not the fastest, how do we decide who even gets a place at a race? Talent is everywhere, but opportunity, platforms and access are not.

Talent here runs mostly on chai and pure determination. There are no brands, supplements or technology until real success has been achieved. With sport comes power. To be in Iten is to listen and learn about what sport can do and where that power sits. This is why DBA Africa's Athletics Race Fund is such a lifeline for so many of these athletes."

A World Away from the UK

This isn't Emily's first time in Iten, and she understands how much athletics means in Kenya. For many people it is far more than a sport. It is a livelihood, a way out and a source of hope for whole families. Her reflections echo DBA Africa's own values, and we feel privileged to have her with us to experience and write about Kenya's sporting ecosystem.

What she sees in Iten is very different from what she knows in the UK. Nutrition, training conditions and access to competition are all worlds apart. Even so, Kenya keeps reaching the podium on the global stage, despite the many challenges its athletes face along the way.

Closing the Gap: The Athletics Race Fund

That gap between talent and opportunity is exactly why DBA Africa launched the Athletics Race Fund. The fund supports rising track and field athletes with the practical barriers they face every day. It starts with access to competition: it covers race entries, transport, equipment and logistical support, so that talented athletes get the chance to show what they can do.

Because in a town full of potential champions, the athletes who make it shouldn't just be the ones who could afford to get to the start line.

Find out more about the Athletics Race Fund and how you can support Kenya's next generation of athletes.

Athletes Race Fund | Support Young Runners in Africa