Tegla Loroupe Peace Race
Encyclopedia
The Tegla Loroupe Peace Race is an annual 10-kilometre road running
event which takes place in November in Kapenguria
, in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya
. First held in 2003, the race was created by Kenyan runner Tegla Loroupe
to bring together warriors of rival tribes to reduce conflict in the region. The event features separate 10K races for elite long-distance runners and local warriors. There is also a race for children and a VIP race for politicians and dignitaries. The race raises funds for the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation, a charitable body focused education, sports and medical issues.
, a prominent long-distance runner and world record holder, to use athletics as a way of promoting unity between rival tribes in the area. Severe drought
s and high levels of poverty
in the region brought with them increased conflict and cattle rustling, further compounding the population's problems.
Loroupe, whose home town of Kapenguria is the race venue, had personally experienced the problems of the region. "I grew up in a pastoral environment where life was really hard because of the local conflicts between the tribes and people stealing cattle. All of this on top of conditions that were hard to start with", she said, "I was lucky. I had talent and was able to make a success out of running and I felt that I wanted to give things back to the community I grew up in."
The first edition attracted thousands of people, mainly warriors from the Samburu
, Marakwet
and Pokot Districts
of Kenya as well from the neighbouring areas of Karamoja
in Uganda
and Sudan
. Kalie Kurwoi and Cheposera Merisia won the men's and women's 10K warrior races that year. Prizes were offered to the runners: winners earned 25,000 Kenyan shilling
s, runner-ups received 15,000 Ksh, while third placers gained 10,000 Ksh. A shorter race was held for children under-12 and another for VIP attendees, which included the Swedish ambassador, the chairman of Athletics Kenya
, and Ibrahim Hussein (the first African winner of the New York Marathon).
The race grew in size and achieved much publicity in its first few years. By the third edition it had received support from international organisations such as Amnesty International
, Oxfam
, and Médecins Sans Frontières
. The Peace Race had a significant impact upon the security of the region and the area's Member of Parliament
instructed the Kenyan Army that their presence in the previously hostile region was no longer necessary. The race day's events in 2005 included a shared meal between warriors from different tribes within the region, who also provided a demonstration of their traditional local dance
. Building upon the success of the Peace Race, Loroupe expanded the aims of her Peace Foundation by beginning construction of the Tegla Loroupe Peace Academy
and promoting the importance of sport
s, education
and health issues (including female circumcision and AIDS
) in the region.
The number and quality of competitors reached the standard of international races: the 2007 Rome City Marathon
champion Elias Kemboi won the men's race in the same year (beating Wilson Kiprop
), while Lineth Chepkurui
was the women's winner. The event also gained support from high level political figures; Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi
flagged off the 2008 race, which was also attended by the United States Ambassador Michael Ranneberger
. That year, one of the region's well-known cattle rustlers used the event to ceremonially surrender an illegal rifle to Kenyan officials. Safaricom
sponsored the event in 2009 for a figure of 2.1 million Ksh.
Road running
Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road . These events would be classified as long distance according to athletics terminology, with distances typically ranging from 5 kilometers to 42.2 kilometers in the marathon. They may involve large numbers of runners...
event which takes place in November in Kapenguria
Kapenguria
Kapenguria is a town lying north east of Kitale on the A1 road in Kenya. Kapenguria is capital of the West Pokot District. Kapenguria forms a municipality with an urban population of 13,000 and a total population of 56,000 ....
, in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. First held in 2003, the race was created by Kenyan runner Tegla Loroupe
Tegla Loroupe
Tegla Chepkite Loroupe is a long-distance track and road runner, and a global spokeswoman for peace, women's rights, and education....
to bring together warriors of rival tribes to reduce conflict in the region. The event features separate 10K races for elite long-distance runners and local warriors. There is also a race for children and a VIP race for politicians and dignitaries. The race raises funds for the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation, a charitable body focused education, sports and medical issues.
History
The event, created in 2003, was first held in conjunction with the launch of the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation. The Peace Race marked an effort by Tegla LoroupeTegla Loroupe
Tegla Chepkite Loroupe is a long-distance track and road runner, and a global spokeswoman for peace, women's rights, and education....
, a prominent long-distance runner and world record holder, to use athletics as a way of promoting unity between rival tribes in the area. Severe drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
s and high levels of poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
in the region brought with them increased conflict and cattle rustling, further compounding the population's problems.
Loroupe, whose home town of Kapenguria is the race venue, had personally experienced the problems of the region. "I grew up in a pastoral environment where life was really hard because of the local conflicts between the tribes and people stealing cattle. All of this on top of conditions that were hard to start with", she said, "I was lucky. I had talent and was able to make a success out of running and I felt that I wanted to give things back to the community I grew up in."
The first edition attracted thousands of people, mainly warriors from the Samburu
Samburu District
Samburu District is a district in Rift Valley Province, Kenya. It covers an area of roughly 21,000 km² in northern Kenya where the Samburu tribe live...
, Marakwet
Marakwet District
Marakwet District is an administrative district in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Kapsowar. The district has a population of 140.629 . Local people are predominantly of the Marakwet tribe....
and Pokot Districts
West Pokot District
West Pokot District is an administrative district in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Kapenguria. The district has a population of 308,086 and an area of 9,064 km² . Pokot people inhabit the area....
of Kenya as well from the neighbouring areas of Karamoja
Karamoja
Karamoja sub-region, commonly known as Karamoja, is a region in Northern Uganda.-Location:The subregion, is located in northeastern Uganda and comprises the following seven districts:* Abim District* Amudat District* Kaabong District...
in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
. Kalie Kurwoi and Cheposera Merisia won the men's and women's 10K warrior races that year. Prizes were offered to the runners: winners earned 25,000 Kenyan shilling
Kenyan shilling
The shilling is the currency of Kenya. It is divisible into 100 cents.-Coins:The first coins were issued in 1966 in denominations of 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents, and 1 and 2 shillings. Twenty-five cents coins were not minted after 1969; 2 shillings coins were last minted in 1971...
s, runner-ups received 15,000 Ksh, while third placers gained 10,000 Ksh. A shorter race was held for children under-12 and another for VIP attendees, which included the Swedish ambassador, the chairman of Athletics Kenya
Athletics Kenya
Athletics Kenya is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Kenya. It is a member of the IAAF and Confederation of African Athletics. AK organises athletics competitions held in Kenya. It also sends Kenyan teams to international championships. Isaiah Kiplagat is the current chairman of...
, and Ibrahim Hussein (the first African winner of the New York Marathon).
The race grew in size and achieved much publicity in its first few years. By the third edition it had received support from international organisations such as Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
, and Médecins Sans Frontières
Médecins Sans Frontières
' , or Doctors Without Borders, is a secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic diseases. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland...
. The Peace Race had a significant impact upon the security of the region and the area's Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
instructed the Kenyan Army that their presence in the previously hostile region was no longer necessary. The race day's events in 2005 included a shared meal between warriors from different tribes within the region, who also provided a demonstration of their traditional local dance
African dance
African dance refers mainly to the dance of Sub-Saharan Africa, and more appropriately African dances because of the many cultural differences in musical and movement styles...
. Building upon the success of the Peace Race, Loroupe expanded the aims of her Peace Foundation by beginning construction of the Tegla Loroupe Peace Academy
Tegla Loroupe Peace Academy
The Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation is named for Tegla Loroupe, the world-champion marathon runner from Kapenguria, Kenya.The Foundation is building a school for orphans affected by the violence in the cattle raising areas of north-west Kenya, eastern Uganda, southern Ethiopia and southern...
and promoting the importance of sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
s, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and health issues (including female circumcision and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
) in the region.
The number and quality of competitors reached the standard of international races: the 2007 Rome City Marathon
Rome City Marathon
The Rome Marathon is an annual marathon competition hosted by the city of Rome, Italy on a Sunday of March.The competition has also doubled as the Italian Marathon championships on two occasions; in 1983 and 1986. The race date was shifted from the traditional March schedule to 1 January in 2000...
champion Elias Kemboi won the men's race in the same year (beating Wilson Kiprop
Wilson Kiprop
Wilson Kiprop is a Kenyan long-distance runner, who specializes in the 10,000 metres and half marathon. He was the world champion at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 2010 and was the 10,000 m gold medalist at the 2010 African Championships in Athletics.He started competing at the...
), while Lineth Chepkurui
Lineth Chepkurui
Lineth Chepkurui is a Kenyan long distance runner.At the 2008 World Cross Country Championships she finished eleventh in the individual race, however this was not enough to be a part of the Kenyan team, who won silver medals in the team competition...
was the women's winner. The event also gained support from high level political figures; Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi
Musalia Mudavadi
Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi is a Kenyan politician, currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government.Mudavadi was born in Sabatia, Vihiga District...
flagged off the 2008 race, which was also attended by the United States Ambassador Michael Ranneberger
Michael Ranneberger
Michael E. Ranneberger is a former United States Ambassador to Kenya. He was confirmed by congress on June 29, 2006 and began field duties on August 11, 2006. He left his post in May, 2011. He was also responsible for U.S. relations with Somalia. Mr. Ranneberger served as the Senior Representative...
. That year, one of the region's well-known cattle rustlers used the event to ceremonially surrender an illegal rifle to Kenyan officials. Safaricom
Safaricom
Safaricom, Ltd is a leading mobile network operator in Kenya. It was formed in 1997 as a fully owned subsidiary of Telkom Kenya. In May 2000, Vodafone group Plc of the United Kingdom, the world's largest telecommunication company, acquired a 40% stake and management responsibility for the...
sponsored the event in 2009 for a figure of 2.1 million Ksh.
Past elite winners
| Edition | Year | Men's winner | Time (m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... ) |
Women's winner | Time (m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... ) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2003 | ? | ? | ? | |
| 2nd | 2004 | 31:28 | 35:40 | ||
| 3rd | 2005 | 31:51 | 36:52 | ||
| 4th | 2006 | 32:45 | 35:30 | ||
| 5th | 2007 | 31:25 | 37:27 | ||
| 6th | 2008 | 30:27.4 | 35:42.6 | ||
| 7th | 2009 | 32:05 | 34:52 | ||
| 10th | 2010 | 27:55 | 32:51 |