Kenyans & Running
yJessica Vig
Mrs. Hillman
AP English/ Block 2
February 8, 2011
Kenyans, the Runners of the World Since 1986, when the people of Kenya began to take the world championship of running seriously, their men have won every team race from the eight hundred meter to the three thousand meter steeple chase. Five of the top ten spots on Runner’s World’s annual road race ranking for 2001 were held by Kenyan men (Hirschoff). Statistics show that compared to their Western counterparts, Kenyans are better long distance runners. With their almost perfect environment providing them with a natural, beneficial diet, Kenyan runners are born and raised to run fast.
By contrast, while American runners are stuck in traffic, getting to and from work, people in Kenya are constantly in motion: “There’s a road, there’s a forest. You run to school, you run back home” (Eldoret). The environment that surrounds Kenya is picture-book perfect for developing a runner. Kenya sits at an elevation of six thousand feet or more. This elevation leads to a vigorous outdoor life; a life of activities preformed in thin air. Such altitudes as this one have been shown to help create a high aerobic capacity that is vital to distance running (Hirschoff). Not only does the strain of air density help to produce a world class runner, but combined with the elevation, Kenya is located on equatorial latitude. The combination between these two things equals very warm days, cool nights, and low humidity. This becomes the perfect atmosphere for aerobic activity (Hirschoff). When temperatures are below 75 degrees, heart rate increases two to four beats per minute, whereas when temperatures rise above 75 degrees, heart rate increases by ten beats per minute. The higher the heart rate, the more the athlete is getting out of his aerobic activity (Halleran).
It is the basics of the land that help in creating Kenyan runners. The land around them is their training grounds, whereas American runners have readily
Mrs. Hillman
AP English/ Block 2
February 8, 2011
Kenyans, the Runners of the World Since 1986, when the people of Kenya began to take the world championship of running seriously, their men have won every team race from the eight hundred meter to the three thousand meter steeple chase. Five of the top ten spots on Runner’s World’s annual road race ranking for 2001 were held by Kenyan men (Hirschoff). Statistics show that compared to their Western counterparts, Kenyans are better long distance runners. With their almost perfect environment providing them with a natural, beneficial diet, Kenyan runners are born and raised to run fast.
By contrast, while American runners are stuck in traffic, getting to and from work, people in Kenya are constantly in motion: “There’s a road, there’s a forest. You run to school, you run back home” (Eldoret). The environment that surrounds Kenya is picture-book perfect for developing a runner. Kenya sits at an elevation of six thousand feet or more. This elevation leads to a vigorous outdoor life; a life of activities preformed in thin air. Such altitudes as this one have been shown to help create a high aerobic capacity that is vital to distance running (Hirschoff). Not only does the strain of air density help to produce a world class runner, but combined with the elevation, Kenya is located on equatorial latitude. The combination between these two things equals very warm days, cool nights, and low humidity. This becomes the perfect atmosphere for aerobic activity (Hirschoff). When temperatures are below 75 degrees, heart rate increases two to four beats per minute, whereas when temperatures rise above 75 degrees, heart rate increases by ten beats per minute. The higher the heart rate, the more the athlete is getting out of his aerobic activity (Halleran).
It is the basics of the land that help in creating Kenyan runners. The land around them is their training grounds, whereas American runners have readily