On Thursday and Friday of this week, STRIVE Kenya got the privilege of attending the Kenyan Olympic Trials in Eldoret – a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Our experience started out by making it through a long security line on Thursday morning just in time to watch the women’s 10K race, featuring Betsy Saina, our neighbor at the HATC. Several mid-race surges occurred before Vivian Cheruiyot, another friend of STRIVE, broke away for the win. Betsy followed in second, securing her spot on the Olympic team (I can now say that I lived across the hall from an Olympian!). After the 10K, we took a break to walk down to Eldoret and get food from Tusky’s, a local grocery. The high schoolers got to see Eldoret up close and personal for the first time and no one got lost or run over by a matatu, so we called it a successful trip. We then returned in time to watch the 100 and 110 hurdles, the 100 meter dash, the men’s 800 meter prelims, the men’s steeplechase prelims, and the men’s 5K. The coolest thing that happened was that we got someone to let us into the VIP section and got to watch everything happen from the side of the track. (Unless you ask intern Owen. If you ask him, the coolest thing was that he got to tell Asbel Kiprop good luck and he responded.) We have lots of great pictures, so follow STRIVE Trips on Facebook and Instagram! Our journey concluded by waiting on our matatus by a watermelon stand that sold us each a slice of melon for 20 shillings (20 cents in the US).

On Friday, many of the interns and high schoolers got up early to run a few miles before heading out to the second day of the trials. We didn’t get quite as good seats for the second day, but we were much closer to the action than the thousands of people that were crammed into the main stands. We stayed at the trials all day, getting the chance to see the men’s 10K, the 400 hurdles, the 400 meter run, the women’s 5K, the 800, the 1500, and the steeplechase. We were also in the same venue as the Kenyan president, so that was cool. Some of the highlights of the day were watching about 2/3 of the field drop out of the men’s 10K, watching Asbel Kiprop demolish the field while not running all-out until the last 200 meters, watching Vivian Cheruiyot complete the 10K-5K double (remember that these races were barely 24 hours apart), and watching Ezekiel Kemboi start waving to the crowd with about 600 meters to go because he was just so confident about making the Olympic team. Possibly the biggest shocker of the day was seeing David Rudisha (reigning Olympic champion and world record holder) just barely eke out a third place finish in a race that he was supposed to win easily. It just goes to show that even Olympians have off days. Our day ended by getting caught in the rain as we were leaving the Trials. However, the rain didn’t reach Iten until the night, so we were still able to get a second run in. Overall, the past two days have been an incredible experience for all of the STRIVErs and we can’t wait to watch the now-Olympians that we saw compete in person compete in the Olympics in a few short weeks.