Why are Kenyans a symbol of fast running?

Question

i just know it because running fast connected to kenyans

Answer 1

The Kenyans have had great success in distance running.

They are not sprinters..

Answer 2

Because they are a relatively small country, with a disproportionate number of runners who are very competitive at middle distances and marathon, and absolutely dominate the distances between those.

I noticed how good Kenyans were way back when I was a high school runner in the 1980's. In the 1987 world championships I was awestruck at the way Paul Kipkoech toyed with the world's best 10k runners, alternately surging and relaxing to test the competition, then blowing the race wide open and lapping most of the field. In 1988 my cross-country idol John Ngugi took the Olympic 5000 by blasting to a 50-meter lead then seeing it through for 7 more grueling laps.

I eventually lost track of all the great Kenyan runners because there were simply too many. There still are. Other countries great runners are sometimes Kenyan-born, too. A Kenyan enrolled in another high school in my district and went on to win state titles, Jonah Koech I think his name was.

I heard a lot of theories about why the Kenyans are good for fast running, most were a combination of body morphology (east Africans tend towards ectomorphic; lots of great runners from Somalia and Ethiopia too) also the cattle-herding lifestyle in Kenya, kids are responsible for herding but on foot, they are like cowboys without horses, essentially spending their entire lives running. Kenya's military plays a big role too, it is responsible for locating talented young runners and starting them out in the national program.



Distance running is a serious sport in Kenya, the government spends resources on building up its dominance. They are hard to beat.

  They play soccer too, which is a great partner sport to running.



The main rival to the east Africans in distance running is the North Africans, the Moroccans and Algerians. Like the legendary Said Aouita, Nouredinne Morceli, Ibrahim Boutaib and Hicham El Gherrouj. They are closest to competing with the East Africans and trade distance records with them regularly. Generally the North Africans have been better more around the 1,500 level, while closer to 10,000 the East Africans have been better. But both have had multiple superstars at every distance from 1500 up.

>edit< altitude is considered a factor for some but it is hardly the deciding factor, particularly since not all of Kenya is highland, nor is Somalia or Ethiopia for that matter. If lifestyle weren't important, there would be no way to explain why western runners who consistently train at high altitude are still usually beaten by east Africans.

Next time you watch a race involving Africans and Westerners, pay attention to form. Westerners mostly have a less natural, stiffer form of running, rather than loping along easily the way people who have run long distances since childhood do.

Percy Cerruty, Jim Ryun's old coach, noticed long ago that children ran far more easily and naturally than the athletes he coached did, some of his conclusions about form were wrong but the premise was right: distance form in the US and Europe is stiff, unnatural and inefficient.

Answer 3

because they run everyday to catch their dinner

Answer 4

Because of their long legs!

Answer 5

The reason is because of their physiological makeup and the fact that they live at a high altitude. There is more red blood cells to carry oxygen ect. and so when they run at a lower altitude they're bodies are more efficient at carrying O2 to the muscle and replacing CO2 in EPOC. Its got nothing to do with them herding cattle or whatever the other answers said haha!

Its a bit more scientific but i dont want to bore you :)

Answer 6

Uhh....because they have no problem running fast.  It's really not that complicated.