A general view of the National High Altitude Training Centre in Taryet, Kapchorwa, ahead of its commissioning by President Museveni on December 11, 2024. PHOTO/HANDOUT/PPU
There is a familiar pattern in the way excelling sportspersons are honoured in Uganda. Once one wins an international medal or more, President Museveni will host the athlete and his or her mates to a State dinner or luncheon.
At that ceremony, the President will gift the athletes with cars, and cash and then promise to build them a house or one for the parents.
Lately, Mr Museveni also rewards them with cash prizes, especially after he ran out of what to give perennial medalists Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo.
Kipsiro pushed Museveni
So, over the past two decades, this privilege of a meal with the President has often gone to track and road athletes who have mastered the art of securing the podium at major competitions like the Olympics, Commonwealth Games,World Athletics Championships or the African Games.
One such occasion came 14 years ago. Mr Moses Kipsiro was the talk of the town after he had powered to a unique double victory over the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games in India.
Upon return from Asia, Mr Kipsiro requested the President during the meal to install a state-of-the-art training facility in Sebei Sub-region so that more champions would be unearthed. And notwithstanding the cash rewards, Mr Museveni heeded to it.
Mr Kipsiro returned four years later to retain the 10,000-metre Commonwealth title during the Glasgow 2014 Games in
Scotland and repeated his call to Mr Museveni.
Two years earlier, Mr Stephen Kiprotich delivered Uganda’s first Olympic gold medal in 40 years when he bagged the marathon title on the final day of the London 2012 Games in England.
Museveni finally delivers
Mr Kiprotich echoed Mr Kipsiro’s call too even when work on that project had begun that year. After such a long wait, Mr Kipsiro’s wish was fulfilled yesterday when President Museveni unveiled the National High Altitude Training Centre in Teryet, Kapchorwa District.
Mr Museveni launched the facility located 12km out of Kapchorwa Town, in a move viewed as part of the country’s grand efforts to enhance sports infrastructure.
“The athletics fraternity is excited with the opening, which will give us 100 percent access to develop high-level athletes,” said Uganda Athletics Federation’s (UAF) general secretary Beatrice Ayikoru.
Over the past months, the Teryet centre was in brief spells opened up to UAF and Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC).
In July and August, Team Uganda’s long-distance runners used the facility for some sessions before they competed at the Paris Olympics in France.
As UOC, we thank the government for investing in high-quality facilities for sports. The launch of the first phase demonstrates the commitment to development of sports,” Ms Ayikoru spoke in her capacity as UOC’s general secretary.
Teryet now open
The Teryet centre also this year hosted the World Athletics U20 qualifiers, at a time when the tartan wasn’t in place yet at the new Namboole Stadium.
“We highly commend the government of Uganda for not only in providing track facilities and 3km jogging track that
could be the only type in Africa but also accommodation facilities,”said Ms Ayikoru.
She added: “The addition of a steeplechase facility is a plus in an area that has huge potential. We believe the facility will attract athletes from around the globe that will in return motivate local young people to select athletics as a choice.”
The facility is officially open nearly five years after Mr Kipsiro ran his last competitive race - an 8km road race in Trier,
Germany, on 2020’s New Year’s Eve.
Mr Kipsiro, now aged 38, finished his elite career with several medals. He has since started the Moses Kipsiro Foundation in his home district of Bukwo, to nurture talent.
Kipsiro felt heavily burdened
While requesting Mr Museveni 14 years ago, Mr Kipsiro had realised he was always on a largely solo mission when he competed over the two-track long-distance races against bunches of Kenyan and Ethiopian opponents.
The biggest name during his time wasEthiopian Kenenisa Bekele. There was Kenyan-American Bernard Lagat, Eritrean Zersenay Tadese, Bekele's younger brother Tariku and Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge who could be older but belongs to
that generation too.
Yet, Mr Kipsiro’s manager Ricky Simms from Pace Management, was the same man who was managing Jamaican sprints star Usain Bolt at the time.
But for a long time, Mr Kipsiro felt he could have attained more silverware for the country on tactical grounds during
major races if he had had more formidable company at the time.
Sometimes, even in top shape, Ethiopians and Kenyans worked to box him out, the superior challengers coasting to silverware. Of course, times have changed.
Mr Cheptegei, for instance, has had the company of the likes of Abdallah Mande, Stephen Kissa, Kiplimo, Joel Ayeko, Rogers Kibet and even Martin Kiprotich recently to win the world and Olympic titles from the 2019 Doha Worlds in Qatar
to Paris a few months ago.
A first pro running camp
Since Mr Kipsiro signed out from track, Mr Cheptegei surely took over and his Dutch management Global Sports Communication set up camp in Kapchorwa around 2017.
That marked the first time ever a professional running camp had come to the Sebei Sub-region in eastern Uganda.
Still, there was no definite training facility except hills and slopes.
The inspiration came from Mr Cheptegei’s eighth and sixth place finishes in the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre races, respectively, during the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Global then dedicated a full-time coach to Kapchorwa in Addy Ruiter.
All these set-ups were already present and yielding results in hilly Ethiopia and Kenya, mainly from Global and the Italian management called Rosa Associati.
Rosa in Uganda manages the reigning two-time Worl d Cross-country champion Kiplimo.
Before setting up in Kapchorwa, Mr Cheptegei had crossed to Kenya to train with the likes of Geoffrey Kamworor and Kipchoge in 2016.
Training with Kenyan camps in Kaptagat or Iten had been the norm all the years, even for Kipsiro, steeplechase runners at the time like Jacob Araptany and the late Benjamin Kiplagat. It was so normal that sometimes when Ugandan athletes won, Kenyans would claim the victory.
Cheptegei didn't wait for Teryet
When Mr Cheptegei broke the medal shackles with the 10,000-metre silver medal behind Great Britain’s Mo Farah
during the 2017 London World Athletics Championships, he added to Mr Kipsiro’s plea for the training centre.
Most fondly after he exorcised the 2017 Kololo demons with the senior men’s 10km title at the 2019 World Cross-country Championships, Mr Cheptegei then told President Museveni that: “The (Teryet) project is taking long. If you want to see more athletes like me to lift Uganda, finish it. I am just being honest and not political.”
Mr Cheptegei had seemingly run out of patience already though for Teryet.
Some two kilometres from the government’s site for the High Altitude Centre, Mr Cheptegei had secured land and
to date, he has set up his running track with a football pitch.
The facility, which borders Mt Elgon National Park in Teryet has since been in use by budding talent under his Joshua Cheptegei Development Foundation (Jocdef) camp as well as his compatriots under the Global camp.
It, however, still did not provide enough. Several elite Ugandan runners today still train from Kenya and perhaps, Teryet’s centre would woo them back, especially in the aftermath of the death of marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei
who died after a domestic attack and Kiplagat who was murdered on December 30,2023 in Eldoret,Kenya.
Mr Cheptegei already rallied female Ugandan runners to return from Kenya and train from the Sebei Sub-region districts of Bukwo, Kween and Kapchorwa as he amplified his voice in the fight against gender-based violence, after Rebecca’s death.
A bright athletics future?
The opening of the government's facility is primed to bring more talents like Kipsiro and Cheptegei to the fore, especially after the latter has now switched to marathon running.
“Our dream is to make sure the team for Los Angeles 2028 Olympics Games benefits from the facility with all the other major championships in its pathway such as Tokyo 2025, Beijing 2027 World Athletics Championships and all
other major events that require altitude training like the World Road Running Championships San Diego 2025 and World Cross-country Tallahassee 2026,” noted Ms Ayikoru.
In the UOC’s view,the centre could help furnish several other disciplines including cycling. Charles Kagimu who was Uganda’s sole representative cyclist at the recent Paris Olympics, also bases his camp in Iten.
Teryet has a chance to alter that script, especially for athletes who may need conditioning.
“That’s our dream not on- ly in athletics but all the sports with facilities at the centre,” said Ms Ayikoru.
She added: “The centre should add to sports tourism, for both local and foreign people who now have a reason to visit the beautiful part of Elgon. As a federation,we are delighted to be part of the history and strategy for development of
the country through sports.”
Uganda has won six medals at the last two Olympics, all from athletics and Teryet, if well used, has the potential to spike that tally in the near future.
