Working in silence: Chefs take pride in preparing meals for Kenyan athletes

Eliud Kipchoge enjoys his meal in camp. [Global Sports]

Kenyan athletes have rarely disappointed in their exploits, either locally or on the international arenas.

They have shared their glory with the country, their coaches and managers and families who have rallied behind their journey to stardom.

But a group of support personnel has not been in the limelight, yet they have found their way into the hearts of world beaters in athletics.

They are the chefs doling out simple but meticulously prepared cuisines in athletics training camps, and in the process winning the hearts of athletes.

Often, athletes are seen sharing duties in kitchens, but several chefs are the real engines that power stars to phenomenal victories.

Athletes say chefs have never disappointed them.

Across the training bases including Kaptagat, Iten, Sinonin, Kapsait, Kericho and Ngong among others, where running is a religion, they (cooks) remain the unsung heroes.

In the simplest of their lifestyles, especially during their stay in training camps, athletes’ lives revolve around food.

Former world record holder Eliud Kipchoge once told an international media briefing: “Our life here is simple, very simple. You get up in the morning, go for a run, and come back. If it is a day for cleaning, we do the cleaning, or we just relax. Then go for lunch, massage, the four o’clock run, and evening tea.”

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The cooks, apart from delivering sumptuous cuisines for the champions, have become the biggest fans, watching their every step during competitions miles away from Kenya.

From the Kapsait athletics training base located between 2,800m to 3,000m above sea level, down to Iten and Kaptagat (2400m) and all the way to Sinonin in Baringo, delicious meals are cooked and served by chefs.

Peres Jepchirchir, left, of Kenya, leads the pack on her way to winning the women's marathon at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, in Sapporo, Japan. [Getty Images]

In the chilly conditions of the Kapsait training camp, innumerable numbers of stars have been nurtured and released to conquer global races.

Dan Kirwa, a cook at the camp says he is the proudest man when the athletes he prepares meals for take the streets and tracks by storm and make history.

“I have become their biggest supporter and fan. At times, they compete when I am in the kitchen cooking but I always find time to sit and watch them run. It is often emotional for me because I feel like it is the results of the work that we do that gives them the much-needed energy to keep pushing harder and eventually win medals,” Kirwa, who has been a cook at the camp for slightly over three years tells Standard Sports.

He says he likes watching 21km and 42km races.

The camp has produced talents among them former world record holder and London Marathon and Chicago winner Brigid Kosgei and World Half Marathon bronze medallist Catherine Lelin.

Last year, when Reline brought home a bronze medal from the World Road Running championships in Riga, Kirwa said he watched with excitement and felt proud.

“In the mornings, our stars love hot milk tea served hot with chapati and eggs. During lunch hour, they enjoy boiled rice and beans and in the evening we serve them generous amounts of spinach with ugali and meat. Several times they take traditional vegetables such as managu and occasionally, the athletes lick honey which they bring from outside.

“When they return from international races, they bring back some gifts as appreciation, and I feel encouraged,” says Kirwa.

“Our athletes also get their carbohydrates from potatoes which are in adequate supply in the high altitude area,” Kirwa says.

Athletes at a Complete Sports Centre. [File, Standard]

At the Complete Sports training camp in Kaptagat, Barnabas Apiyo has become more than a chef.

Like Kirwa, he cooks for the stars and then he follows them to the training grounds.

Apiyo says the athletes enjoy fresh food from the neighbouring farms.

 “When I watch them compete, I feel the energy. I feel that the food that I take time to prepare in the kitchen is powering them to perform well,” he says.

The chef says the management of the camp has always ensured that the athletes get plenty of fruits aside from traditional vegetables, ugali and meat among others.

“Athletes abhor foodstuff which has stayed in the refrigerators. They want fresh food from the farm. There are no special meals in the camp; we cook simple food which we prepare well,” he says.

Apiyo is proud of athletes such as upcoming javelin star Irene Chepkemoi who trained at Complete Sports before securing a scholarship to study in the US.

Scovia Naanyu, who went all the way from Trans Mara in Narok County to Kaptagat to cook for athletes, is another proud chef.

According to Naanyu, Kenyan athletes embrace local cuisines.

“I have rarely seen cases of athletes refusing to take local food such as vegetables, bananas, milk tea and milk. I have been encouraging them to take more milk because it keeps their bones stronger,” says Naanyu.

Naanyu says the athletes she cooks for also find joy in boiled green maize obtained from local farms.

Kenya had taken two chefs to the city of Miramas in France, to help its sprinters, among them 100m sensation Ferdinand Omanyala to get ugali and other local meals far away from home.

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“This time, we are taking chefs to Miramas so that our athletes get their local delicacies as they prepare to represent the country at the Paris Olympics,” National Olympic Committee of Kenya Secretary General Francis Mutuku said ahead of the athletes’ departure to France.

Before relocating to the Olympics village in Paris late in July, Malkia Strikers players, while in their pre-departure training camp in Miramas, displayed topnotch skills as they prepared mouthwatering Kenyan cuisines to satisfy their needs and gain enough power to train harder.

Middle blockers Triza Atuka, Libero Agripina Kundu and Joy Luseneka were spotted doing the cooking.

They cooked chicken and chapati and photos of them enjoying the sumptuous meal thrilled Kenyans abroad and locally.

The Paris Olympics and Paralympic Games attracted nearly 300 chefs who took time in kitchens preparing more than 13 million different meals for participating sportsmen and women as well as technical teams.

According to statistics, the chefs underscored the crucial importance of food in sports as they fed 15,000 international athletes from over 200 nations by cooking 40,000 meals each day in the Olympic Village across 14 competition arenas throughout Paris, according to statistics.

Statistics further indicated that more than 13 million meals were served during the 30 days (15 days each) of the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

Ferdinand Omanyala takes a selfie with Mary Moraa and Wiseman Were at the Nyayo National Stadium on April 20, 2024. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

Athletics tactician Eric Kimaiyo, the 1997 Berlin Marathon runner-up, who is the lead coach in Kapsait says food remains a major concern for every international athlete.

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Kimaiyo, popularly known as Commando, says the challenge comes when athletes travel abroad for competitions and require Kenyan food, which is rarely available in some countries.

“In Kenya, we are accustomed to our traditional food which is simple but thoroughly cooked.

“During our days, you would travel abroad and then eat meat which has not been boiled properly and worse still, has stayed for long in the fridge. What follows is stomach upset ahead of the competition and you end up not starting,” the retired athlete says.

He goes on to say: “In some cases, we ask chefs in foreign cities to prepare food which is almost similar to Kenyan cuisines so that athletes don’t suffer.”

In Sinonin, junior athletes, a majority of them students who converge for training during the holidays, take turns to cook for themselves.

Barnaba Kitilit, who is the lead coach at the camp, ensures that fresh vegetables and fruits are available on the farm.

Kitilit says cooking in shifts helps youngsters to learn basic skills.