(3 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Iten, Kenya – 29 January 2025
1. Local and international athletes during a morning run
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Iten, Kenya – 28 January 2025
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ryan Mex, Maltese Coach and Semi-Professional Athlete:
++PARTLY COVERED WITH SHOT 3 AND 4++
"Why Iten? So, I am a marathon runner and usually all marathons are dominated by Kenyans. So for me, Kenya and Kenyans are champions, they are the world’s best. When I compete in world championships it is always dominated by Kenya. So, as a preference for my training camp, I wanted to go to Kenya."
3. Various of Mex training with his team
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Iten, Kenya – 29 January 2025
4. Drone shot of athletes running
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Iten, Kenya – 28 January 2025
5. Various of Lorna Kiplagat, a former World Half Marathon Champion and long distance runner in her office
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Lornah Kiplagat, Former Dutch World Half Marathon Champion:
++ PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 5 AND 7++
"If you train at 2,400 meters high, your lungs expand, your red blood cells increase and so when you go to low altitude you feel like you are flying."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Iten, Kenya – 29 January 2025
7. Various of athletes training
8. Drone shot of athletes training
STORYLINE:
As dawn breaks over the sleepy town of Iten, its dusty tracks come alive with packs of runners keeping rhythm, often followed by cheerful children headed to school.
Some of the athletes are elite Kenyans. Others travel from farther afield.
All are here because this unassuming little town lies at about 8,000 feet above sea-level and has produced some of the best long-distance runners in the world.
To cater to the ever-growing interest from both professional and amateur athletes, hotels, lodges and short-stay rental apartments continue to spring up around the town, located 350 kilometers (217 miles) northwest of Nairobi.
“For me, Kenya and Kenyans are champions, they are the world’s best. When I compete in world championships it is always dominated by Kenya. So, as a preference for my training camp, I wanted to go to Kenya," said Ryan Mex of Malta.
Mex, a semi-professional runner and coach, brought three athletes with him to get a competitive edge ahead of Malta’s marathon season.
The town produces Olympic champions.
Iten is home to some 42,000 people, mostly subsistence farmers, and it has also been a temporary home to plenty of world champions, including two-time Olympic gold medalists Eliud Kipchoge (marathon) and David Rudisha (800 meters), both of Kenya.
British four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah would train in Iten for months at a time.
The town was declared a World Athletics Heritage Landmark in 2019 and proudly calls itself the “Home of Champions.”
Lornah Kiplagat, a Kenyan-born three-time Olympian for the Netherlands, attended high school in Iten and now runs a training center here for runners who want to up their game.
“If you train at 2,400 meters, your lungs expand, your red blood cells increase, and so when you go to low altitude you feel like you are flying,” explained Kiplagat, the 2008 world half-marathon champion.
The main season runs from April to September.
AP Video Moses Ndung’u
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