The new young Kapchorwa Gazelles

 

The new young Kapchorwa Gazelles.

By Isaac hiire.

At the charming rest huts of Noah’s ark in Kapchporwa, we sit with Chebet Emma and her mentor Chebet Arnet and look at each other with a mood of excitement as the interview starts. Being a shy girl, Arnet sits next to her as I prepare my notebook and camera.

Chebet Emma is a new discovery of Uganda athletics who ran 3000m U20 at the just concluded national trails in Nambole taking position 7th with a time of 11:21.53. The unique thing is she accomplished this race bare foot. With the right support and management, she will win many medals for the nation. We had a brief interview with her recently.

Her mentor an elite athlete, Chebet Arnet who is a farmer in Ngenge says she met Emma at that village. Emma was among the small children who would run along with her while she did her easy runs. Ngenge is a part of Kapchporwa whose people are not exposed due to the effect of cattle rustling that used to take places years back.

She always followed me running bare foot and this moved me to request her parents for permission to take her to her to Tororo cross country Arnet say. On the second occasion Chebet made a request to coach Njia Benjamin for Chebet to go to Nambole for trials. This is where the girl surprised everyone with the great run.

Arnet adds that Emma is from a running family and on the same day of the trial, her brother also ran bare foot the 3000m U20 and was position 19th with a time of 19:35.00.

Asked about what motivated her to run even without shoes, Emma says running is so easy because she is used to running after cows and running long distances to fetch water or go to school. She says weather she has shoes or not, she is used to running and at Nambole it didn’t make much difference to her until she realized you need shoes at elite level.

The innocent 16 year old girl says she wants to run and be like one of Uganda’s champions in the names of Peruth Chemutai . She says if support continues to come, she promises Uganda a gold medal. At an early age, she has her priorities set and wants to be a nurse when she grows up.

Emma appreciated help from a well wisher in United Kingdom who sent 200,000 Uganda shillings and the support given to her by Coaches Chelangat Peter and Njia Benjamin.

It is hoped that she will be running at the next national trials. We expect the best.

 

ABOUT ISAAC.

Hanyiga Isaac Hiire is a qualified journalist who holds a first class degree in mass communication from Islamic University in Uganda. With a great passion for athletics, Isaac has used his skill to bring out the hidden aspects of inner life of athletes both elite and local. He is very vocal when it comes to talent development and advocates for more support to athletes. As a recreational runner he has taken part in the 10k MTN road runs from the year 2018 including the CURE hospital marathon in Mbale. In he’s small way he has offered support to few athletes through training them and giving some finance.

Isaac hopes that athletics can bring in more medals if raw talent is helped to grow.