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Kenya: Masai - Setting the Pace for a Successful Sporting Family
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The East African Standard (Nairobi)
21 March 2008
Posted to the web 20 March 2008
Mutwiri Mutuota
Nairobi
Moses Ndiema Masai is the first in a family trilogy that looks set to be prominent in international athletics circles.
He is from Kapsogom in Mt Elgon District that has quickly become a hub for running talent. He is the elder brother of world junior women's cross-country champion, Linet and Dennis Masai, tipped to be the next distance running star. Dennis finished third (24:42) at the Nairobi Cross-Country first meet junior 8Km race on November 3 last year.
"When they saw my achievements and what I brought home from running, my brother and sister wanted to be like me. We train hard to succeed," says the 2005 double Africa 5000m and 10000m junior champion.
Ndiema, who clocked 38:49 in the long race in Ngong to finish eighth, made the provisional team before being confirmed in the final squad.
In Edinburgh, he will be making his third appearance at the World Cross, having returned 16th (25:31) in the junior race in Brussels (2004) and seventh (24:19) in Saint-Daimler, France, the following year.
Ndiema, who burst into the scene when he won a share of the Sh1m jackpot in the AK/Energiser Cross-Country Series in 2004, has, however, been bogged down by a recurring ailment that has slowed his ascendancy in international athletics.
In 2006, what was initially diagnosed as typhoid saw the 22-year-old Kenya Police runner miss the Fukuoka National Cross-Country trials after winning the championships.
It turned out that he had a serious ailment that makes his body secrete excessive acids, causing excruciating stomach pains.
Since then, the career of the runner managed by Pace Athletics has been interrupted as he continues to seek treatment.
The former Kapsogom Primary School pupil started running in Standard Six. He then joined Bishop Okiring Day Secondary School where he would train after school.
"For me, it just felt right to start running and the more I ran, the more I felt like running," the 2005 Most Promising Athlete at Kenya's Sports Personality of the Year (Soya) awards explained.
While in Form Three, Ndiema, then affiliated to Nairobi's Hidden Talent camp, made shockwaves in the AK/Energiser Cross-Country Series.
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He claimed four victories in the 8km junior race, including the January 10 final in Eldoret, to earn his share in the Sh1m meet jackpot where an athlete was required to top three meets, including the last round, to get a share.
Ndiema had won in Machakos, Nyahururu and Mosocho before and earned Sh330, 000 after splitting the purse with Peninah Chepchumba (senior short race) and Gladys Chemweno (junior women).
"I used the money to help my parents pay school fees for my brothers and sisters. The jackpot also made me realise that one can make a living from running and hence I gained more motivation."
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