Running - A Cash Crop in Eldoret

22nd April, 2010 - Posted by Dave Redelfs -

Eldoret, in Kenya, was once just a sleepy backwater town in an upcountry farming community that never hit the headlines-other than in brief business reports about the state of Kenya’s wheat or barley crop. But now Eldoret is the heart of a number of financial ‘empires’. The new source of wealth has nothing to do with crops or minerals but lies in the power packed limbs of its famed long-distance runners.

Kenya’s legendary track and field superstars drive around the once dusty town in flashy Mercedes Benz saloons conversing animatedly into their mobile phones. This is essential technology for keeping in constant touch with their agents around the world as deals, involving large sums of appearance money, are cut.

Eldoret in the centre of Kenya’s farming country has produced 99% of the nation’s legendary athletes. Kipchoge Keino and Amos Biwott live nearby, as do the famous steeple chasing Cherono brothers: The 3000m world champion, formerly called Stephan Cherono but who is now a citizen of Qatar named Saif Saeed Shaheen; and his bronze medallist brother Abraham Cherono. Also to be seen around town on a regular basis are Christopher Kosgei, gold medalist at the 1999 world championship in Seville, and Patrick Sang, who won 3,000m steeplechase silver medals in the 1991 and 1993 world championships and the 1992 Olympic Games. His neighbors are Isaac Songok, former world junior 1,500m champion and 2000 Sydney Olympics 1,500m bronze medalist Bernard Langat.

Many of these top athletes are now investing in land and businesses in the surrounding countryside and Eldoret has prospered even as other Kenyan towns suffer from the country’s recent economic downturn.

Originally posted by Milan Vesely in African Business.