Racers look beyond the challenges

PHOTO | SARA-CHRISTINE GEMSON Wheelchair and tricycle race participants gear up for the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon. Among them are Jane Kerubo (left), Eunice Otieno (in red) and Mutai Davis (second right).

What you need to know:

  • These tricycle and wheelchair racers have also been clocking up the miles so that they are in racing form for the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon
  • Because there is little funding for disabled athletes in Kenya, wheelchair racers in the country train using their regular wheelchairs, which are heavier and more cumbersome than race chairs.
  • Inadequate equipment is, in part, due to the lack of sponsorship for Kenyan para-athletes, which also makes it difficult for them to devote themselves to their training

While thousands of runners will be tying their shoelaces and stretching their legs next Sunday morning, 100 athletes will be flexing their hands and stretching their arms.

These tricycle and wheelchair racers have also been clocking up the miles so that they are in racing form for the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon.

Eunice Otieno is one of them.

The wheelchair racer is training hard, spending hours on the track and in the gym. Her goal is clear: having placed third in 2010 and second in 2011, this year she wants to be the first across the finish line in her category.

Yet, despite the time and energy she is investing in training, Eunice knows that come race day there are factors over which she has no control: “I hope to win but it will depend: sometimes you will train, work hard and then maybe when you are competing your wheelchair goes bust.”

Because there is little funding for disabled athletes in Kenya, wheelchair racers in the country train using their regular wheelchairs, which are heavier and more cumbersome than race chairs.

On race day the Association for the Physically Disabled Kenya (APDK) provides them with a better adapted chair, but that forces the athletes to learn how to manipulate a new piece of equipment on the day they should be focusing on the race.

Mutai Davis, another wheelchair racer, explained that even the chairs provided for the race are far from ideal, saying: “The wheelchairs from APDK are not standard for sports, it’s for sitting only; so we find ourselves using a lot of energy.”

Profound dedication

Inadequate equipment is, in part, due to the lack of sponsorship for Kenyan para-athletes, which also makes it difficult for them to devote themselves to their training.

Yet these challenges in no way reduce the para-racers’ dedication to their sport.

Jane Kerubo, a tricycle racer who came in first place in 2010, refused to miss the race last year despite being pregnant up until the end of September.

She sent her husband to register for her to make sure she wasn’t denied the chance to compete due to her state.

And although she gave birth just a month before the race, she still finished third!

While proud of her success, Kerubo nonetheless wishes she could devote herself to her training instead of having to juggle it with work and family commitments.

“Right now, when I come here for training I’ll rush back to my business. And when you don’t have money, you are not able to come to training,” said Kerubo.

For Eunice, the lack of sponsorship is curtailing her ambition to gain the kind of international renown that is common for Kenyan able-bodied runners.

Though the young woman has raced in India and Mozambique, lack of resources and inadequate equipment kept her from competing in the 2012 London Paralympic Games as she had planned.

But she remains optimistic.

Last month, three handcycles meeting international standards were donated to para-athletes in Kenya.

To ensure that the race is fair, however, they will not be used by any of the para-athletes during the Nairobi Marathon.

But she can train on them, with the hope of competing in next year’s Boston Marathon and other international competitions.