Iten: Where champs are born and bred

What greets a visitor on arrival in Iten Town is a billboard with the words “Home of Champions”.

Iten is a corruption of “Hill Ten”. Word has it that some white explorers were counting hills and when they reached the tenth one, they called the place Hill Ten.

The message on the billboard is not misleading. Iten has produced world-conquering athletes such as the 2011 Sports Personality Of the Year Award winner Vivian Cheruiyot or “Pocket Rocket”.

Ms Cheruiyot was also the favourite to scoop the 2011 World Athlete of the Year Award at the International Association of Athletics Federation gala in Monaco but mysteriously lost to Sally Pearson of Australia.

I came to know Ms Cheruiyot in the early 90s when I was a pupil at Kapkenda Primary School. I had accompanied my school team to the Keiyo District athletics championships at Kiptulos Primary School. At that time, she was a pupil at Chemwabul Primary School.

Despite her young age diminutive size, she left many of us speechless.

She overlapped nearly all her rivals in the 10,000m race and later represented the district at the provincial level in Nakuru. The rest, as they say, is history.
There is something unique about athletics in Elgeyo-Marakwet County.

In Iten, you only need to pick an individual from a group and train him or her properly for them to win gold in the Olympics.

ALTITUDE

So favourable is the altitude of the county for honing athletic prowess that many foreigners pitch tent here for training. Among them is 5,000 and 10,000m world champion Mo Farah.

Other Iten athletes who have put the county on the world map include Ezekiel Kemboi, Edna Kiplagat, Moses Mosop, Vincent Kipruto, Brimin Kipruto, Florence Kiplagat, Sharon Cherop, among others.

The county government is on a mission to tap the rich talent and generate revenue from athletics tourism.

According to Governor Alex Tolgos, Sh34 million was set aside in this financial year to boost tourism. The money would be used to open up Rimoi Game Reserve, desilt Tabar Dam and conserve wildlife.

Mr Tolgos said the county government had constructed more than 40 kilometres of roads to the reserve and to breath-taking sceneries, especially on the Iten-Kabarnet road.

Apart from athletics, Iten Town also boasts of points where one can view the expansive Kerio Valley. It is a sight to behold, especially in the morning.
Some of our famous educational institutions are St Patricks Iten High School and Tambach Teachers Training College.

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