Let Kipchoge feat inspire all to scale new heights
The weekend was not just great, but historic and momentous for Kenyans. The greatness and pride was bestowed on the country by Eliud Kipchoge—now the World’s greatest marathoner.
In his humbleness, determination, hard work and focus, he achieved what has hitherto been humanly impossible; running a marathon under two hours. Kipchoge took the Ineos 1.59 challenge in his stride and conquered and thus became the first human being to achieve the feat.
He galvanised Kenyans ahead of the challenge— and on Saturday morning, the country came to a standstill; and in mind and spirit, joined him in the race against himself. As he thumped the race truck in the company of pacemakers into the annals of history, we, too, crossed the usual and unfortunate ethnic, socio-economic and political schisms that are the bane of our nationhood. Thank you for making us proud; in the spirit of true patriotism.
The big lesson for all is that with single-mindedness and determination, nothing is impossible. With self-believe, it is easy to tap into that powerful and latent inner energy to scale the heights of success.
For once, negative politics and all those energy-sapping shenanigans that often pre-occupy the country were banished by the Kipchoge spirit of endurance and conquest.
And though the tragedy of the 11 General Service Unit (GSU) officers, who perished when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by al Shabaab terrorists in Dadaab, Garissa county threatened to blight the weekend, with unity and determination, the country will defeat even the most intractable of the threats, including the current socio-economic and political challenges.
For the youth, the Kipchoge spirit should be a lasting inspiration to spur them to realise their full potential. Their future is in their hands. They should grab the boundless opportunities— and in the words former US president John F Kennedy; “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country” to transform Kenya and make it a better country, place to live in.
Finally, the government needs to be reminded that investing more resources; financial and infrastructure in sports will have handsome returns because it will not only address the youth unemployment and ensure economic returns, but bring immense patriotic dividend.
