30 | NEWSFOCUS November 20, 2018 www.mygov.go.ke Catherine the Great, marathoner who Catherine Ndereba is one of the most inspiring and celebrated athletes in the world. She is a two-time Olympic and multiple marathon champion, notably breaking the world record in the 2001 Chicago Olympics. She was named Sportswoman of the Year in both 2004 and 2005. In 2005, she was awarded the Order of the Golden Warrior (OGW) for her remarkable achievements in athletics. Her story is excerpted from a forthcoming book, Pioneers & Transformers: The Journeys of Top Achieving Women in Kenya, published by the Kenya Yearbook Editorial Board Pioneers & Transformers Journeys of top achieving women in Kenya BY KYEB T o walk through Catherine Ndereba’s life story is to begin to appreciate the struggles, perils, obstacles, and mental and emotional demands placed on the once wiry teenager who hoped to emerge from Kenya’s crowded field of wannabes to become a great athlete. Now in her mid-forties, Ndereba’s love for athletics blossomed while she was a student at Ngorano High School in Nyeri County. Her teachers recognised her talent and encouraged her to take up track and cross-country running. But her dream nearly came to an abrupt end as her first major challenge after high school was finding a place to nurture her talent. She even considered staying in school longer to continue taking part in athletics because she did not want to let go of her running talent. Ndereba’s dream was to emulate her father, a long-distance runner who, however, never made it to the national stage. Unfortunately, there were no more organised competitions for her and it seemed her dream was about to die – until her coach intervened. The coach arranged for her to move into a camp where she could live, train and take part in local athletics events. Then scouts from the Kenya Prisons Service spotted her and persuaded her to join the service as an employee. Soon after, she enrolled in the prisons staff training college in Ruiru in Kiambu County, just outside Nairobi. In 1994, Stephen Mwaniki, a sprints coach at the Kenya Prisons Service, saw her potential and invited her to join the team. Her entry into the team assured her of competitive racing ahead, and a chance to prove her mettle among the best long-distance runners in Kenya and the world. Still little-known, the young Ndereba burst onto the scene in 1994, forcing her way onto the sports pages when she upstaged Hellen Chepng’eno, the then reigning world crosscountry champion, during that year’s national prisons championships at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi. “I will never forget that race. I couldn’t imagine I had beaten a world champion. You see, I was a nobody in athletics at the time,” she says. After her win, she fully expected athletics authorities to take notice of her and even invite her to the national cross-country team. After all, she had met all the qualifying times and even beaten the best in the country. But nothing happened. It appeared athletics officials were not yet persuaded enough of her talent. “I was disappointed and cried a lot in private,” she says. “But I trod on resolutely, hoping to run as part of the national team one day.” She was soon running a few marathon races in Asia and Europe, but not yet for the national athletics team. Questions were raised but never answered. “I felt hurt that I could be excluded from the team for no good reason. I tried to seek answers but I couldn’t find any.” Ndereba decided to concentrate on her training, knowing that she would soon be too good to be ignored any more. She knew her day would come. She took part in several road races outside the country, winning most of them. By 1996, she was ranked second on the United States of America Track and Field’s World Running Rankings. By 1999, she had almost given up on ever being included in the national cross-country team. It was time to move on to other issues. She and her husband, Antony Maina, had had a daughter in 1997, and she decided to concentrate on motherhood, her family and her job at Kenya Prisons. During that time, she got wind of an American promoter, Lisa Beth Buster, who was looking for Kenyan athletics to take part in races in the US. With encouragement from her coach, Ndereba signed up with the promoter. She was ready for a new direction in her athletics career and decided to switch to marathons. Her manager entered her in the Boston Marathon. It was her toughest race ever. She led for most of the time and at one point it looked like she would beat defending champion Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia. WORDS OF WISDOM • I used to say, ‘Today I am not good, tomorrow I will be bet ter.’ That was my prayer. I knew one day, one time, I would be a champion. • There is always next time. • Finishing the race counts just as much as winning.
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