How Moi’s cow set Soi on the path to athletics stardom

A gift from the late President Daniel Moi to elite athlete Edwin Cheruiyot Soi was a game-changer in his athletics career.

After winning the 8km junior (men) race during the Kabarak University Cross-Country Championships way back in 2005, the late Moi offered a gift of a cow to the winner who was none other than Soi. 

The reward was a shot in the arm for Soi who had just begun to embrace athletics. He would later realise the gift motivated him to have a passion for athletics and this bore fruits as he began scaling the heights of athletics. 

The two-time Olympian reveals that the gift was an eye-opener as he realised that Sports can make one’s life better.

Speaking at the Kericho Green stadium, Soi discloses that  Moi’s gift was the first ever reward since he started running in the early 2000s.

“It was a surprise gift from the late former President. I   didn’t expect it. Mine was just to win the race. Period,” Soi says happily.

“I had just begun having a passion for running when I got the reward. It greatly  boosted my perception of sports and I have not looked back since then.”

His first running successes came knocking in 2004 when he undertook a tour of races in Spain.
The athlete’s first opportunity to represent Kenya internationally came in the 2006 IAAF World Cross-Country championships.

Soi, aged 37, is a long-distance runner who specialises in the 3,000m and 5,000m plus road races. He represented the country in the 2008 Beijing Olympics where he bagged bronze in the 5,000m and in the 2012 London Olympics where he did not do well failing to qualify for finals in the 5,000m race.

Soi participated in the World Indoor Championships held in Istanbul in 2012 and brought home bronze in the 3,000m category.

The prominent athlete also competed in the World Athletics Finals of 2007 and 2008 in Stuttgart where he took part in the 3,000m and 5,000m races and clinched gold in both races, among other achievements on track.