Nairobi — The 10km event, held in Iten recently, is to be an annual feature in aid of girls' education in the locality

REBECCA KIPLAGAT, 74, proudly displayed the number 413 on her T-shirt. Her hair, all white, distinguished her from the crowd during the inaugural women's Shoe4Africa 10km road race held at the High Altitude Training Centre in Iten recently.

Shoe4Africa is an initiative of Lorna Kiplagat (a naturalised Dutch woman), her husband Pieter Langerhorst and Toby Tanser. Kiplagat and Langerhorst own the Ksh16 million-worth training centre.

Despite participating in the 2km walk earlier, Rebecca Kiplagat looked fresh. She said the children milling around the route added to the excitement of the race. "I will train harder next year," said Kiplagat, who led several other grandmothers in a special supplementary event - a 2km walk in the company of their grandchildren from around the Iten locality.

The Shoe4Africa is to be an annual event in aid of girls' education in Iten.

Rebecca Kiplagat Lorna Kiplagat's mother. The latter is currently one of the best European distance runners and a leading medal winner for her adopted country, the Netherlands. She is also one of the most respected investors in Iten and a pioneer of sports tourism through the high altitude training centre.

The senior Kiplagat illustrates the enthusiasm with which Iten women have taken to sports after being inspired by the success of women athletes who are changing the economic landscape of the North Rift through their track earnings.

As a result, many young women are being weaned from the traditional life of minimal education and early marriage, to a life of personal achievement especially through professional running.

THEY OWE IT ALL TO LORNAH Kiplagat and many others who have endured hard training to make their lives, better. She has channelled most of her wealth and energy back into her home in Iten.

Langerhorst and Kiplagat used the Shoe4Africa race to open an ultra- modern gym at the training centre. They also announced that work on next year's edition of Shoe4Africa has already started.

"The ultimate goal is to produce Olympic champions by 2016," said Langerhorst. "Our aim is to empower the girl-child to realise her potential in life through athletics by providing her with a forum to further her education."

This vision is shared by race sponsor Toby Tanser, who gave Ksh200,000 ($2,702) as prize money to be shared among the first 20 finishers in the 10km road race held on the Iten/Eldoret highway. The winner got Ksh37,000 ($500) and the rest got Ksh7,400 ($100) each.

The turnout, despite the race being held on a Friday, was impressive and the presence of foreign athletes currently training at the centre gave the event an international flavour.

Langerhorst, a trained sports marketer and former marketing manager for the sports apparel manufacturer Saucony, said the future of athletics lies in Kenya and one way of realising this is by promoting local competition that will attract foreign participation.

This will also promote sports tourism, which is slowly growing in the Rift Valley, where foreign sports people are coming to either train with Kenyans or merely sample the climate and altitude that have made the country one of the most sought after athletics training grounds in the world.

Tanser said, "I have lived and trained with Kenyans and published the book Train hard, win easy the Kenyan way.

"The book was meant to unravel the mystery of athletics success in Kenya. However, only a few can soak up the sacrifices Kenyans make to be world beaters," he said.

"This has earned Kenyan runners respect among their peers and everybody in general."

Tanser, who has been in the country since early last month to prepare for the Shoe4Africa race, is looking to running a circuit of women's races in various parts of the country leading to a grand finale race in Nairobi with an estimated 10,000 participants.

He cites the growing number of women participants in the Standard Chartered Marathon in the past three years. The motivation has been the emergence and domination of women runners at international races such as Catherine Ndereba, Susan Chepkemei, Tecla Lorupe, Joyce Chepchumba and Margaret Okayo.

Tanser would like even more women in road races. "We shall achieve this by offering women educational opportunities in colleges in the US through athletics scholarships," he said.

Langerhorst said the philosophy of the training centre is to assist girls through an education scheme, but they must undertake to follow the contracts to the letter by returning home to work and pass on knowledge and exposure gained in the West to the community.