Edna Kiplagat, the current 2011 IAAF World Champion of the women's marathon, speaks to Justin Kiptoo Lagat.

Having spoken to a number of Kenya's top long distance athletes recently, one question has begun to puzzle me: Is it their politeness, humility and kindness that make them world champions? Or is it by being champions that that they have acquired these virtues? I asked the same question when I visited Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat, the women's reigning world marathon champion, at her home in Iten where she lives with her husband and coach Gilbert Koech.


I arrived at their home while she and her husband were away from their compound. I dialled their mobile phone, expecting to be asked to book an appointment, but when her husband answered he instead asked me to relax and wait for them as they wouldn't be long. True to their word, they arrived shortly after and, after exchanging pleasantries outside, they then ushered me into the sitting room.


We discussed Edna's early life in Kapkoi village, part of Mutei in the Elgeiyo Marakwet district, where she was born and raised. She attended Kapkoi Primary School and took up running while in her upper primary education. She did fairly well in 1995, when she made it to district level in the primary school's track competitions and Bro Colomn, of St. Patricks, Iten, identified her, leading to her enrollment in the school the following year.

She began establishing her name under Coach Colomn, winning a Silver medal at the 3000m event in the 1996 World Junior Athletics Championships, and a bronze medal two years later. From then, she started participating in other long distance races in track, cross country and road races, but it was not until 2010 when she began featuring in the full marathon.


In more recent times, it was breaking Catherine Ndereva's course record at the 15km Utica Boiler Marker road race, winning the Los Angeles City Marathon and the New York City Marathon last year, which gave her the confidence she needed to win the World Championship title in Daegu. 


"At the starting line, I knew I had trained well, my body felt right, and I was the only one with the leading time this year among my competitors and so, I was expecting to win the title," she tells me. She had been seeing continuous progress in her time from the previous year.


I asked her what makes a world champion, out of all the thousands of athletes training in the world, and she gave me three words: Consistency, goal and vision. "Most athletes expect to achieve much after training for just three years! It takes time and patience to achieve great things in this field".


"Do you have a history of runners in your family?" I enquired.


"No one I know in my family used to run. I have two brothers who play football fairly well." She replied. "Actually, our family is known more for academic excellence than for sports. We have many professionals outside the field of sports."


As for her training bases, she prefers training at Iten, while in Kenya, and in Boulder, Colorado, while in the USA, where her manager Brendan Reilly lives.
She is looking forward to and hoping to win a gold medal again in next year's Olympic Games, but she knows it will be a very competitive field with the presence of her compatriot and friend Mary Keitany, among others. So far, she has been named in the team to represent her country at the world's second popular event. Unfortunately, she was not able to go and defend her title at the New York City Marathon on the 6th of November as she still feels a little discomfort on her left knee, sustained during a fall on her way to winning the Daegu World Championship Marathon, but hopes everything will be fine soon.


We concluded the interview and she and her husband offered to drive me off to the main road on their way to visit Keitany. As I recounted an earlier meeting with a contractor working on her new mansion, I could understand why he regarded her with great respect. She is a lady who keeps her word. 

Interview courtesy of Justin Kiptoo Lagat (African Sports Monthly)
justinlagat@africansportsmonthly.com
This article also appears at www.africansportsmonthly.com Nov/Dec 2011 issue.