Athletics | “Training with Cheptegei is like going with Messi and Cristiano”

It’s five o’clock, and it hasn’t shone in Kapchorwa (Uganda), the land of gorillas, forests, mountains and … athletes. Joshua Chiptege, the man who broke the world record of 5,000 (12: 35.36 Monaco) and 10,000 from Bekele (26:11.00, Valencia) in 2020, is already on his feet. “My routine is simple, at 5:30, I run in the morning, between 12 and 15 kilometers. I take a shower, have breakfast, rest until lunch, and then at 15:30, we go out to run the second session. At 21:00, to bed.” , As one mathematician explains for the moment.

This iron stream in the “camp” has been shared since January by Wasim Omez, his colleague And NN Running Team (The most powerful in the world) and the big promise of the Spanish fund. He is preparing his attack on the Olympic low of 5,000 (13: 13.50). “This is the life of an athlete who wants to get high, train and rest until you are bored, ”Antonio Serrano says, Coach and teacher Amiz, 21, from Nerja, who gave his student the green light to leave Training camp Uganda. Amiz is nailed daily with a group of 15 African super athletes.

“Here time passes slowly, everything is going well. I train happy. It makes you want to keep going, don’t say,” I want to go now! ” I came for a month and decided I wanted to stay until April or May. He shares a room with American Chadrak Kipchurch: “It’s a simple place, but we have everything, a doctor, a cook … We eat a lot of rice and ugali (African food) and for breakfast there is bimbo bread with great flavors. “

Kapchorwa magic

Kapchorwa, where Oumaiz learns at a brisk pace of life and athletics, was actually where Cheptegei reoriented his career, which is getting somewhat lost: “I was training in Kaptagat (Kenya), with Kipchoge, Kamworor … But I went through difficult years and decided to return to my country in 2015, to be a role model for my people. I came back because this was my home and I wanted to inspire my people and my community. I’m so excited about my place, and the people around me who are right, are leading me in the right direction. For now, it’s a success“And it suffered from rough sticks like the great ‘pájara’ at World Cross Country in Uganda in 2017.. Then came world gold medals, 5,000 and 10,000 records: “The record 10,000 in Valencia changed my life.”

The sessions were chaired by Adi Reuter, a Dutch philanthropist who traveled to 93 countries until he met Cheptegei in 2015, and affectionately invited ‘Chief Kapchorwa’ for its close association with its land, a place at an altitude of 1900 metersClose to Mount Elgon, with “Infinite Forest Trails for Training”. The athlete’s intervention was such that he put money out of his own pocket to buy land for a 400 dirt track.

“Joshua is a different man than other great athletes, he’s humble. He’s not very strong in training, he listens to Addy and himself a lot. If he says you have to go at 4:00 every thousand meters, then it goes to 4 letters. Of course, if he says he has to go faster, he throws a punch. Training with Joshua is like doing it with Messi or Cristiano, “Amiz laughs.

“Handsome could be a great hero.”

“Wasim is a great boy, very promising talent, he can become a great hero. I hope he learns from us, our way of life and that we are happy in Uganda. We are a peaceful country with good people,” says ‘President’ Cheptegei, confirming coach Addy Reuter’s hypothesis: “You have to be very good to be part of this group.” Reuter and Serrano speak systematically to see young Omes’ progress. Serrano explains: “Ady told me it’s a good thing to continue in Uganda, because he sees handsome progress so much, and what I see is like that.”

In the sessions there is shooting, pace, and streak. Everything is on a hike. Favorite workouts? The exercise I liked the most was a great rhythm, up and down rhythm. We left 12 km in 3: 08-3: 05. It is very good at 1,800 meters. On the track we did a 5×1000, we started at 2:40 and decreased to 2:34. Don’t focus on kilometers here. But they left about 150, “says the man from Malaga.

A different life

Amiz feels that something has awakened in him as an athlete. “I feel like I have more control over myself. I train with more head than before. I’ve learned a lot from Joshua, or from other athletes like Musagala (3:32 in 1500). That’s quiet.” Not having much control over kilometers, knowing when to rest … “, reflects this by Amiz, who has the wonderful luxury of“ going to the next hotel to get a large portion of chicken. ”In his spare time, Cheptegei attends his farm:“ It is my greatest passion Take care of my cows, grow potatoes. “

Wasim is looking to Tokyo for a big spot at 5,000, and Cheptegei is looking for gold at 10,000 and 5,000. “I’m honored to learn from a teacher like Joshua.” A jewel and a star share schedules, kilometers in Ugandan reality, different from the reality in Europe, but ideal for “running and rest”, A recipe for being great in the land of Head of Kapchorwa.

The “Valencia Connection” in Cheptegei

Joshua Chiptege (Kapchorwa, 1996) He is the greatest proponent of the athletics revolution in Uganda, A country that, until a few years ago, was not very prolific in the global elite of the Fund compared to its neighbors in Kenya and Ethiopia. Everything changed when Stephen Kepruch was champion of the Olympic Marathon in London in 2012. “We all wanted to emulate him,” says Chiptege, who was supervised by Kepruch, who is also from Kapchorwa. Cheptegei grew up under their protection, who now claim to be “an inspiration and example to the people of Uganda”.

Cheptegei made his big debut for an unpleasant reason. When he was about to win the World Cup in Kampala (Uganda), he took a terrible blow that made him appear in all world news. “It boosted me,” he says.. He became an indestructible athlete, a world champion in cross-country and 10,000 on the right track in 2019. And in 2020, the year of the epidemic, he achieved the great achievement of the summer with his world records of 5,000 and 10,000 in Valencia (26:11.00). “Valencia’s record changed my life. It holds a very important place in my heart. It is the city in which I have proven that I am an athlete and have the ability to set records. I did one on the road and one on the road. “I feel so loved there,” explains Joshua, the hero in Turia.

His record, made with bunny shaped LED lights, did with the Nike Dragonfly shoe, one of those models that people talk about whether or not they are taking advantage of runners on their records. “I know the opinion of many athletes. For me, the world is changing, and there are many technologies. Businesses are developing, and there are more consumers. We have to move and know that the world is changing and the game is changing, he told AS Joshua, explaining another reason for his record: “In 2020 I worked hard and there were no goals. I put this as unique. When you specifically prepare for something, you get on him “.

Unlike his NN teammates, Kipchoge and Kamworor, he still has no plans to hop on the road. “At the Tokyo Games, I would be, if they finished, on the track and after three years on the track, my idea is that too,” Cheptegei analyzes, An eloquent but calm person. How is your personality “I prefer not to tell him that other people say it”.