• Lemotit Athletics Training Camp was incepted in December 2007 with the first athlete being Emily followed by Sandrafelis.
•In 2009, we relocated to Kapsabet for greener pastures, but all was in vain as we faced lots of challenges like lack of food, school fees, training facilities and personal effects,” narrates Kemei.
Image: ERICK BARASA
Marilyn Bagel once wrote that everyone needs wishes and dreams, ‘because the bridge you build between them and reality is your life.’
Sometimes the fear of failure and imagined pain keep individuals from getting as high as they would have.
However, this cannot define coach Paul Kemei and his wife Emily Cherotich, who have, for the last 15 years, converted their Londiani home into a world-beating junior athletics camp.
While Cherotich, a middle distance runner, has represented Kenya in numerous major championships, Kemei — an amputee with chopped off left fingers — had his Paralympic career cut short. He was adjudged to be a runner of minor disability and thus compelled to run against able-bodied athletes.
“When I lost my Paralympic dream, which was to become a world champion, I tried competing against able-bodied runners but things weren’t so rosy. My performance was below par, so I decided to channel my energy towards young budding athletes in my village,” says Kemei.
“This is how I came up with the idea of starting a junior training camp on my home compound. I have 42 athletes with a big chunk being girls — just six boys. At Lemotit, we aspire to inspire but what amazes me most is the fact that we won’t pester the athletes to keep coming back to our camp. It’s only out of passion that they frequent the camp time and time again. Most of them come from within but a few are from as far afield as Machakos, Kilgoris and Nandi.”
So how did Lemotit Camp initiative come to fruition?
“I represented Kenya in an international Paralympic event in India in 2009 and when was I asked to stop due to my nature of disability, which I concurred with, I returned to my community where I stumbled across two promising young runners in Emily Chebet and her namesake Sandrafelis Chebet,” says Kemei.
“My retirement from Paralympics was actually a blessing in disguise. That time Sandra and Emily decided to stay in our home because by then, I was already married and by the time they started going overseas to compete, they had already become role models to hundreds of aspiring kids in Londiani and that’s how the juniors started coming to our camp, one after the other.”
Lemotit Athletics Training Camp was incepted in December 2007 with the first athlete being Emily followed by Sandrafelis.
“Those days life wasn’t easy. We used to buy and sell charcoal in Kericho town. In 2009, we relocated to Kapsabet for greener pastures, but all was in vain as we faced lots of challenges like lack of food, school fees, training facilities and personal effects,” narrates Kemei.
“We even got to an extent where we went to the forest to steal firewood and the worst moment was when some financially stable senior athletes would try to seduce the two girls using their pockets to win them but this, to their chagrin, came a cropper.”
He continues: “Sandra and Emily never lost hope and sat for their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCSE) in 2010 and attained average grades. After the exams, I approached Robert Ngisirei, who was a coach in Tulwo Girls High. I invited him to my home to come and see what we do. Due to Sandra’s and Emily’s determination in academics and sport, Ngisirei agreed to take them to Tulwo Girls and the rest is history.”
The two girls have been quite a revelation. Sandra has gone on to win several international medals including 3,000m bronze at the 2015 Africa Under-20 Championships in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and silver medals over 5,000m and 3,000m at the 2017 edition of the continental show in Tlemcen, Algeria.
At the 2015 World Under 18 Championships in Cali, Colombia, Sandrafelis bagged a 2,000m steeplechase silver medal but dropped to fifth at the 2016 World Under 20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
She finished 11th in the U20 race at the 2017 World Cross Country Championships in Kampala, Uganda. She has also embarked on road running and in 2019, she won a 15km race and a silver in Lisbon 21km.
She was set to compete in 10km road race in China last month but this never came to be due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Emily’s major medal is 3,000m silver, which she won at the World U18 Championships in Cali, Colombia.
Another runner from the camp, Beatrice Chebet, won the U20 title at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark.
She also holds the World U20 5,000m title won in Tampere, Finland in 2018 and a 5,000m gold medal from the 2019 African U20 Championships in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Other athletes from Lemotit stable are Zena Jemutai and Caren Chebet, who clinched a 1-2 finish in the 3,000m race at the 2019 African U20 Championships in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Cherotich, a police officer in Nyahururu, met Kemei at Kakibei Secondary School.
“From the onset, I just supported his course not knowing it would help many young people realise their dreams in middle and long-distance running,” says Cherotich.
“We met in high school and our athletics dream became our life. Discipline and focus are our buzz words. We never interfere with academics. Those in school are in school but the camp remains their second home. Most girls come from humble backgrounds or from single parent families. I have learnt that nurturing young talent is very important in sports.”
She adds: “Dealing with girls at adolescent stage is not an easy task. You really have to be patient. We teach them that academics supersedes sports. We also dwell more on HIV/AIDS awareness as well as bringing church elders to impart to them some value-based education.”
A day at Lemotit begins at 5am with prayers and ends in similar fashion at 5pm.
“We do a lot of hill work and forest runs for endurance purposes and go to teach them how to use spikes in the stadium in Kericho.”
The first impression when you visit their Londiani home would be a feeling of something akin to a children’s home with many jovial kids running around. But pictures of gigantic overseas and local athletics occasions, medals, trophies and certificates displayed in the living room aptly transforms your perception to a ‘home of champions’.
“If you just obey God and be disciplined, you will succeed and that what drives us here. If you are a coach, you must be disciplined. When we started this camp, many challenged us to abandon our ambition. The project required resources but I’m glad the County Government of Kericho has seen sense in our activities and chipped in to offset some expenses. The camp is a doping-free zone because we encourage clean sport,” Kemei observes.
Asked what informs their success story, Beatrice Chebet explains: “Determination and discipline are key. We are God-fearing athletes and always feel we owe the young kids in our camp an obligation to be their role models.”
“Looking at the spirits of many girls and the six boys in our camp, we will surely conquer the world of athletics in years to come. If you factor in the problems we have gone through from our humble backgrounds, we truly run with zest and vigour.”