My Hero: Sammy Kitwara

Tomorrow is Heroes Day in Kenya. I want to honour a man whose strength, tenacity, courage and relentlessness I admire. His name is Sammy Kitwara. I think that among the top ten Kenyan men (10K to 42K, he has ran the greatest number of significant races this year and appeared in the top three). He has been second when the winners (Tadese and Komon) demolished world records.

People talk about burnout, overtraining etc. But this guy is testing his limits. And I am sure he will destroy the world record within two years. Mark my words. Below is his 2010 performance:

In IAAF / SINOPEC World Half Marathon Championships 16 October 2010 21K the results were as follows:
1 Wilson KIPROP KEN 14 APR 87 1:00:07
2 Zersenay TADESE ERI 8 FEB 82 1:00:11 +00:04
3 Sammy Kirop KITWARA KEN 1:00:22 +00:15

On 26 Sept 2010 10Km at the ABN AMRO Singelloop in Utrecht, The Netherlands 10K
1. Leonard Komon, KEN     26:44
2. Sammy Kitwara, KEN     27:11

21 March 2010 at the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon. was second in 59:47, Tadese won clocking 58:23 and shattering the half marathon world record.

Bay to Breakers (12k) May 16, 2010     Sammy Kitwara     1st position 34:15

San Juan 10K 1 March 2010 1. Moses Masai   27:19 2. Sammy Kitwara  27:42

7th Jan 2010 Zayed International Half Marathon 1. Tilahun Regassa (Eth)    59:19
 2. Sammy Kitwara (Ken)      59:34

31 Jan 2010 Discovery Kenya Cross Country championship held in Eldoret (12Kms) 1. Joel Kimurer    36:14.0  2. Sammy Kitwara   36:18.6

Those are seven races this year. And he made a ton of money from them (in Sinopec alone, where he was third, he made $30,000, thats about 2.4M KShs). But what I admire is his confidence, his fearlessness, his hard work and who he is: a warrior. He makes eye candy today.

 I went back to the doc. I explained that the pain persisted. She suspected maybe the tendon has calcified at the injury point. The XRays returned nothing. So painkillers for 7 more days.
Cheers.