‘Chef Sammy’, the unsung hero of Kipchoge’s sub-two hour project

Eliud Kipchoge’s chef, Samuel Kipkogei Kiplagat, at the Global Sports Communication Camp in Kaptagat, Elgeyo-Marakwet County. PHOTO | ELIAS MAKORI |

What you need to know:

  • Last weekend, American sportswear manufacturer Nike pulled off a huge marketing scoop around their much trumpeted “Breaking2” project in which three top marathon runners were sieved out of an elite group of 18 in an attempt to break the two-hour barrier over the iconic 42-kilometre distance.
  • Neither did Kevin Hart, the celebrated, pint-sized celebrity comedian bitten by the running bug flown in to Monza by Nike to (hopefully) pump up the race with (sometimes) humorous ringside interjections. Not even the post-race MC, a certain Carl Lewis, spoke about Samuel Kipkogei Kiplagat.
  • See, Samuel is Kipchoge’s cook at the athlete’s Kaptagat Training Camp which is managed by Global Sports Communications, and was, needless to say, as integral to the project as were the scientists at Nike’s labs in Beaverton, Oregon.

Last weekend, American sportswear manufacturer Nike pulled off a huge marketing scoop around their much trumpeted “Breaking2” project in which three top marathon runners were sieved out of an elite group of 18 in an attempt to break the two-hour barrier over the iconic 42-kilometre distance.

Kenya’s Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge, Eritrea’s world half marathon record holder Zersenay Tadese and Ethiopia’s double Boston Marathon winner Lelisa Desisa were used as “guinea pigs” in Nike’s thoroughly researched and well thought out, two-year project.

This combination of pictures created on May 5, 2017 shows Eritrea's Zersenay Tadese (left) competing during the half marathon final event in the 11th Africa Games in Brazzaville on September 17, 2015, Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa (centre) running in the New York City Marathon on November 2, 2014 and Kenyan elite runner Eliud Kipchoge competing during the 2015 London Marathon in central London on April 26, 2015. PHOTO | MONIRUL BHUIYAN |

The experiment, on the “Autodrome Nazionale Monza”  Formula One racing track, under perfect Italian dawn conditions, was a painfully piercing 25 seconds off tangent with Kipchoge outlasting Desisa and Tadese to clock 2:00:24 in an amazing run orchestrated by a cocktail of pacemakers who peeled off and rejoined the lead pack in perfectly choreographed, pit-stop fashion.

They ran 17-and-a-half, 2.4-kilometre laps. So meticulously planned was the attempt that we are even told Kipchoge was made to swallow a pill injected with a chip that monitored his internal body temperature, while his muscle oxygen, lactose tolerance and other factors were lab-tested to make sure he was “sub-two compliant.”

Tadese finished in a 2:06:51 PB while a lapped Desisa clocked 2:14:10.Breathtaking stuff!

The pacers ran behind a prototype sports car, piloted by a thoroughly briefed driver, and which beamed a green laser line marker indicating the required sub-two pace.

Kipchoge’s speed and consistency mirrored Juan Pablo Montoya’s fastest ever formula one lap record clocked on this very Monza circuit in the 2004 Italian Grand Prix.

But while all the attention was on the science and technology, and the custom-made Nike “Vaporfly Elite” shoe worn by the “guinea pig” trio and their pacers, lead car laser, chip-in-the intestine, et al, nothing, sadly, was said of one man crucial to the “Breaking2” project.

Not even Great Britain’s women’s marathon sensation Paula Radcliffe and her team in the commentary booth of the live-streamed, history-making race mentioned him in their two-and-a-half hour commentary.

Neither did Kevin Hart, the celebrated, pint-sized celebrity comedian bitten by the running bug flown in to Monza by Nike to (hopefully) pump up the race with (sometimes) humorous ringside interjections. Not even the post-race MC, a certain Carl Lewis, spoke about Samuel Kipkogei Kiplagat.

Eliud Kipchoge’s chef, Samuel Kipkogei Kiplagat, at the Global Sports Communication Camp in Kaptagat, Elgeyo-Marakwet County. PHOTO | ELIAS MAKORI |

See, Samuel is Kipchoge’s cook at the athlete’s Kaptagat Training Camp which is managed by Global Sports Communications, and was, needless to say, as integral to the project as were the scientists at Nike’s labs in Beaverton, Oregon.

In fact, he deserved to be ringside in Monza, rather than the selfie-seeking joyriders we saw live-streamed. (Incidentally, I wonder who no Kenyan, Eritrean or Ethiopian athletics journalist was accredited by Nike.

On inquiry, I was told demand was “too high”, and I wondered who would cover Kipchoge, Tadese and Desisa better than Kenyan, Eritrean and Ethiopian journalists...).

Kipchoge’s chef “Sammy”, as he is fondly known by athletes and coaches, told me how he followed Saturday’s race at the Kaptagat camp (I doubt Nike know he doesn’t have a passport, hasn’t flown) on a live stream from 6:45am projected by former Olympic steeplechase champion Brimin Kipruto’s cell phone in Kaptagat, and how simple a diet he prepared for Kipchoge in the build-up to Saturday’s time trial.

“Eliud is really hardworking,” Sammy narrated the fastest marathoner’s regime.

A photo of a roaster showing Eliud Kipchoge and other stars and their dates for carrying out cleaning exercises in the camp. PHOTO | ELIAS MAKORI |

At the Global Sports Communication Camp in Kaptagat, Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Eliud Kipchoge lives in spartan conditions in a small simple room. PHOTO | ELIAS MAKORI |

“He’s always on time. He gets up early, goes for training by 5:50am, fetches water in a bucket by himself for a shower before taking breakfast and relaxing ahead of lunch. “After lunch he chills out, religiously has a glass of tea, just the one glass, before heading back for training at 4pm.

“Dinner is served at 7:30pm after which Eliud and the other athletes chat briefly before sleeping, never past 8pm.”What about his diet?What makes Eliud, physically, a perfect human being?

Eliud Kipchoge’s chef, Samuel Kipkogei Kiplagat, at the Global Sports Communication Camp in Kaptagat, Elgeyo-Marakwet County. PHOTO | ELIAS MAKORI |

“There was no special diet ahead of the “ Breaking2” race,” Sammy explains. “Not at all. Eliud just kept his usual, simple diet.“On Mondays, I start the day by preparing tea and bread. Eliud always has just two slices of white bread, without margarine or anything.

“Then, for lunch, Mondays come with beans, rice and some potatoes.“In the evening, I prepare ugali, meat and cabbage.“On Tuesdays, ugali and cabbage are on the menu while on Wednesday, I prepare meat and cabbage.

“Thursdays are special because I cook for Eliud and the athletes chapati and beef, while on Fridays, cabbage is back on the menu.“Each Saturday, after morning training, they just have tea and break for the weekend to return on Monday.”Sammy describes Kipchoge as a stickler to the rules and a disciplinarian.

The rules set out at Eliud Kipchoge's simple Global Sports Communication Camp at Kaptagat. PHOTO | ELIAS MAKORI |

“Even when he gives me or the gardener, say, a tip of Sh1,000, he always says I must use Sh200 to buy ‘panadol’ and spend the rest.“But the ‘panadol’ is a figure of speech as he means I should save Sh200 for an emergency while I spend the rest. He’s a man full of wisdom,” explains Sammy, the father of a one-year-old boy. So what’s Kipchoge’s favourite food? And really, there was no special diet for the “Breaking2” mission?

“Ugali and mursik (fermented milk) are his favourite. And yes, there was no special food. What we call “special” here is the chapati and beef that I cook on Thursdays...” adds Sammy, really the unsung hero of the “Breaking2” project. The sort of people we easily forget.