Kenyans again?

Kenyans (who else?) ruled the nation wide bank-rolled runs that were held simultaneously last Sunday. Organizers were proud to announced that they were able to gather over 300,000 runners breaking the 116,000 participants of the Run for Pasig in 2010. These claims however continue to amuse me and those who know the real score. A few years ago I debated with a son of a former Manila mayor who was in charge of the city’s sports program. The official claimed that the run he organized broke the marathon record of the Boston Marathon that attracted 38,000 runners when they relaxed the qualifying time to promote the centennial anniversary of the race. The Manila run lured 45,000 participants mostly students who were in maong pants while carrying packs on their backs. The guy was “napahiya” when I told him those who joined Boston were all full marathon (42km) runners. So even if you say the Standard Chartered Hongkong Marathon attracted 60,000 runners last year, over 30,000 were entered in the 10K category. Last Sunday was no exception I saw a lot of old people walking, so how can you claim it was a run. One observer even said “basin procession to?” or people walking to a political meeting, that’s how bad running here has deteriorated. Again, like in Pasig, I saw a lot of students in maong pants who seemed to be strolling in the park.

How to stop the Kenyans

When my friend Simon Losaiboi grabbed all the prize money in the weekly races held in Cebu, the top runners cried “foul”. Well at that time it was only Simon who was aware of the sometimes three races in a single day. So when they were all desperate and contemplating of jumping off the Marcelo Fernan Bridge, I offered a funny solution. In the column that I wrote dubbed “how to stop Simon” I mentioned that first, invite him to a carbo-loading then slip a sleeping pill in his drink, that way he won’t wake up on time. In the same party, give him spoiled food so he would make trips to the toilet, this would give you time to overtake him. Give him a race bib that does not belong to him, this will disqualify him. Next, spill oil or spikes on the road when you see him approaching, this will cause him to slip or wound his foot. And if all these doesn’t succeed, look for a baseball bat and bash his knees, he will never run again unless he joins a race in the wheelchair category. The column was intended to be a joke but in the Rotary Run 2010, I disqualified Simon for wearing a bib that was not his, in violation of IAAF rules. But please don’t apply all these methods, if you want to beat them train harder. The Kenyans are not invincible, Vertek Buenavista proved this in Hongkong, clocking 2:18 plus to place fifth among the Kenyans who dominated the top ten. By the way, Josphat Kiptanui and Richard Mutisya took the first two spots in the 10K run last Sunday while Abraham Missos annexed the crown in the 5K category. In Manila, Kenyans Alex Melly, Tuwei Samson and Jon Kirob occupied the first three places for a combined P75,000 loot while Roda Chipkerui was un-challenged in the 10K, earning Php 35,000 as well.