Eliud Kipchoge in 2019

Published by on December 21, 2019

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While running a marathon, your entire body will go into overdrive. The amount of heat produced will increase 40 fold. You will lose three to six litres of water through sweat. Your heart will pump approximately 16 litres of blood as opposed to its usual 4 litres per minute, blood flow to your kidneys will drastically reduce and your feet will have taken approximately 40,000 steps by completion. You may even temporarily lose half an inch in height due to loss of fluid in the intervertebral disks. Now, as for what happens when one completes a marathon in under two hours? That’s an account that only one man in the history of mankind can give.
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The youngest of four children, Eliud Kipchoge was born on 5th November 1984, in Kapsisiywa, Nandi County. He was raised by a single mother who was a teacher. The renowned athlete speaks of the value of his humble upbringing. In a letter to his younger self for an article for the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations), he had this to say: ‘you don’t realize it yet, but growing up on a farm in rural Kenya will help you develop skills that will take you far in the sport of athletics.’

‘From a young age, you already possess a good work ethic and self-discipline,’ He continues. ‘Each day you help fetch water from the river for your mother and take care of the farm animals.’ In addition to this, he would also cycle from his home to the market 15km away in Kapsabet lugging many litres of milk from the farm, this paired with running 3km to and from school, unknowingly, with each chore, and each step he was developing endurance that would one day make him a global phenomenon.

After graduating from Kaptel High School, Kipchoge grew into a skilled volleyball player. He later switched to athletics and took it to the next level after meeting Patrick Sang in 2001, a former athlete who won a silver medal in the steeplechase event at the 1992 Olympic Games.

Inspired by the champion, sixteen-year-old Kipchoge approached him a few times asking for a training programme. Eventually, Sang obliged, providing him with a two-week programme. Two weeks later, Kipchoge returned, asking “What’s next?” The rest, as they say, is history. The young boy had found his mentor and coach.

Kipchoge began to build up early successes in his track running career. At 18, he beat two legendary runners at the 5,000-meter race to gain a gold medal at the World Championships held in Paris in 2003. However, it is the failure to make it into the 2012 Olympics team is what altered the course of his life, for it was then that he decided to go into road running.
In his newfound arena, he found his true niche and with it incredible success. Kipchoge has won a whopping 11 of the 12 marathons he has run. He is the current Olympic Marathon Champion after winning the 42.2km race at Rio in 2016. With a time of 2: 01: 39 he is the current marathon world record holder, a time he set at the 2018 Berlin Marathon.

Kipchoge has won the London Marathon four times, while his top five marathons have an average of 2:04:01, the best average times in history. He is considered the ‘greatest marathoner of all time,’ this was cemented following his run in the Austrian capital of Vienna.

With the determination to prove that #NoHumanIsLimited, he partnered with energy company Ineos in the effort to run a marathon in under two hours for the ‘INEOS 1:59 Challenge’.

On 12 October 2019, Kipchoge ran with 41 carefully selected rotating pacemakers, running 7 at a time. A car guided the runners projecting lasers that defined their inverted V formation. He crossed the finish line with a big smile on his face and with his arms stretched wide. His wife, Grace, was the first to embrace the champion.

The multi-layered assistance meant that this feat could not be counted as a world record. However, akin to the first man on the moon, this moment will go down in the history books.

Since this most memorable day, Kipchoge has been awarded the Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya Award by the President of Kenya. He has been declared ‘The 2019 BBC Sports Personality World Sport Star of the Year’. This and many more accolades have followed the athletic wonder. He has shown us all that with heart, discipline, vision and passion anything is possible. As we celebrate this shujaa, let us hold on to his example. Let us tackle our dreams with the confidence that indeed none of us is limited.