He's superhuman... let's name city's new motorway 'Eliud Kipchoge Expressway'
Eliud Kipchoge prepares to head to the starting line of the Berlin Marathon on September 25, 2022.
What you need to know:
- If you expect song and dance at the airport to receive him as he returns from his latest conquest, forget it!
- Kipchoge will stealthily make his way back to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and connect, almost incognito, to Eldoret Airport.
Eliud Kipchoge is a modest man… Laid-back, philosophical and extremely focused.
Watching him run the marathon is poetry in motion.
On Sunday, he glided through the streets of Berlin, slicing 30 seconds off his own world marathon record set on the famous streets of the German political capital four years ago to raise the bar to two hours, one minute and nine seconds.
I'm sure even as we celebrate his latest triumph, the legend has already moved on and set sights on his next target as he transits through his European team base on Snelliusstraat 10 in Nijmegen (the oldest city in The Netherlands) under the watchful eye of his resolute manager Jos Hermens and coach Patrick Sang.
If you expect song and dance at the airport to receive him as he returns from his latest conquest, forget it!
Kipchoge will stealthily make his way back to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and connect, almost incognito, to Eldoret Airport.
He will briefly celebrate with his wife Grace, children Lynn, Griffin and Jordon at their Elgon View home before making his way back to his monastic training camp at Kaptagat for a small party with teammates and training partners.
Then he will launch his recovery training and start strategizing for the next race, probably in the spring next year.
For Kipchoge, there’s no room for distractions. He’s a man on a mission.
Speculation is rife that he could attack the Boston and and New York marathons next year to complete his bucket list of running in, and winning, all the six World Marathon Majors races, having already triumphed in Chicago, London, Berlin and Tokyo.
But then again, if his body asks, and Race Director Mark Milde obliges, he could be back in Berlin to attempt to further lower his record, and probably dip under two hours in a competitive atmosphere.
Kipchoge is super-fast, and so is the new, 27-kilometre Nairobi Expressway that slices through the capital city.
It would, therefore, be a fitting tribute to immortalize the Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T) by naming the expressway "Eliud Kipchoge Expressway" not only to celebrate his achievements, but to also motivate other, upcoming athletes and non-athletes alike.
For driving on this landmark road will remind us all that no human is limited.
What Kipchoge has done makes him easily the most recognizable Kenyan across the world.
He is an extremely important citizen of our nation. Important because his success transcends sporting excellence.
He has helped Nike explore new shoes, personally immersing himself into the American manufacturer’s research and development into new running shoes, including the “Nike Alphafly Next % 2” he wore in Berlin on Sunday which entered the market earlier this year.
When he dipped under the two-hour mark at the famous 2019 INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, the “1851 Trust” (a charity involved in merging science and sport to inspire young learners) introduced three digital learning resources from Kipchoge’s breakthrough.
Eliud Kipchoge is handed his drink at the halfway stage of the Berlin Marathon by his “drinks man” Claude Henning Schulke.
The resources are now in use by 11-16 year olds in schools in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
“This series of three exciting STEM challenges for students covers key aspects of the challenge Eliud and his team faced, namely pacemakers, nutrition and course selection,” British billionaire Sir James Arthur Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals firm INEOS, that bankrolled the Vienna challenge, explains.
“Students put themselves into roles of the 1:59 team and investigate what it takes to run a sub-two-hour marathon by carrying out hands-on practical work in physics, biology and maths.”
Indeed, Kipchoge has inspired many and we must appreciate retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s gesture to gift him for the INEOS run by financing the construction of the “Eliud Kipchoge Library” that was officially opened last month by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha at the champ’s Kapsisiywa home in Chesumei Sub-county, Nandi County.
President William Ruto should now take over the baton and approve the naming of the city’s expressway “Eliud Kipchoge Expressway.”
May as many as are on the same opinion say “aye.”
The “ayes” have it!
