Why Bedan Karoki could be the next Samuel Wanjiru: Like fine wine the track star turned marathoner is maturing to excellence with age

He started running while in school in Nyahururu and wants to leave a legacy when he hangs up his spikes.

As the world prepares to mark the seventh anniversary of the passing of marathon icon, Samuel Kamau Wanjiru, another athlete from Nyahururu County is slowly but steadily scaling to the apex of long distance running.

While Wanjiru, Kenya’s Olympic champion had an almost overnight rise to super stardom, Bedan Karoki, 27, who is preparing for his second Virgin London Marathon in April, has taken almost a decade to be recognised as one of the most formidable distance runners.

On February 9, Karoki served a reminder of his immense talent at the lucrative 12th running of the Ras-Al-Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates where he set a course record of 58:42, moving to number four on the all-time list over the 21km distance.

Karoki clocked 5km splits of 13:53, 13:56, 13:56 and 14:12 to lead seven men, yes seven men, to run under 60:00, the barrier of excellence in half marathon.

At the same race in 2007, Wanjiru shot to global fame when he clocked 58:53, then a world record and 11 years later, Karoki who won his second successive RAK has gone on to better the performance.

Just like Wanjiru, Karoki stands at around five foot five (169cm) in height, possesses the same stocky build as well as a burning ambition to succeed but in the history of sporting excellence, sheer talent sometime prove to be the difference in career progression.

Think of Portuguese footballers, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Nani, wingers of comparable mould who passed through the famed Sporting Lisbon Academy, earned moves to English giants Manchester United before their career paths went separate ways, the former going on to become a five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Unlike Nani however, Karoki is determined to cut his niche in distance running and he is on track to be hailed as one of the finest distance runners of all time when he eventually hangs his running shoes.

Lesson for Karoki

“I was keen to do well in athletics and I put a lot of effort in ensuring that I was noticed,” he told of how he got to the sport having had the chance to school at the same institution with the 2006 World Junior gold winner, Nyaruai and Njoroge, the Commonwealth women steeplechase silver medallist where he started running in 2003.

The tragic end of Wanjiru served a lesson for Karoki who has steered clear of the flashy lifestyle that characterised the Beijing 2008 gold medallist.

“He was a hardworking man. He would have done a lot and I try to learn from the way he used to run since he was the best,” Karoki said.

With the April 22 London — the second Abbot World Marathon Majors race of the year — looming, all headlines are concentrated on the titanic clash of two-time winner, Eliud Kipchoge, Ethiopian great, Kenenisa Bekele and British distance running mega star, Sir Mo Farah.

However, with his performance at RAK, the man who trailed surprise winner and compatriot, Daniel Wanjiru (2:05:58) and Bekele (2:05:57) across the tape in third (2:07:41) last year has the potential of upsetting the order and claim his first Majors victory in only his fourth full marathon.

Karoki’s ultimate distance debut at the 2012 Fukuoka Marathon went up in smoke when he registered a Did Not Finish and in the intervening years, he steered clear of the toughest race on earth until last year when he ran in London before returning to the same Japanese city last December, and finished fourth (2:08:44).

Whatever happens in London, there is no doubting that the man who was born on August 21, 1990 at Gwa Kungu Village, Nyahururu County is a perfect example of a sportsperson who is keen on making a measured ascent to greatness. 

A consummate team player, he has sacrificed his ambitions whenever called upon for the greater good, starting at the London 2012 Olympics where he finished fifth having tried to wear down Farah to give Wilson Kiprop and Moses Ndiema Masai -- who were ranked the better finishers a chance to chase gold.

At the Moscow 2013, Beijing 2015 and London 2017 World Championships, Karoki did everything he could to give his competitor and one of his biggest friends, Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor, the chance to mow down Farah in the 10,000m, coming close in China where the latter won silver.

Kamworor led Karoki to the Kenyan 1-2 at the 2015 Guiyang World Cross in China and the 2016 World Half in Cardiff, United Kingdom where at both events, they worked together to grind down the competition before the superior finishing of the 2017 New York Marathon champion prevailed.

The pair have been penned for the March 22 World Half in Valencia where Karoki underlined his intent to catch the bouquet ahead of Kamworor who is seeking a third successive crown.

“It is always an honour to represent Kenya because getting this chance is not easy. This time round I hope to improve on the second position I achieved in 2016 but I know that won’t come easily,” Karoki stressed after being named in Team Kenya for Valencia.

However, no one would be surprised if he was once again comfortable with helping his nation retain their title for a third successive edition of the biennial showpiece that will be held at the fastest ever course designed for a half marathon in Spain.

Karoki’s outlook to life is perhaps shaped by the near tragedy he experienced in the faraway land of Japan where unlike most Kenyans, he was fortunate enough to escape secondary school after landing an athletics scholarship in the country.

“My sponsor was Masato Marikawa. He assisted me and I will ever be thankful to him. I went to Sera High School for three years where I ran well and after three years, I got a company,” he told the IAAF Focus on Athletes project.

Karoki was one of the privileged beneficiaries of a programme established at Sera, a public high school in Japan in 2001 where its alumni association and the town formed a Committee for the Advancement of International Cooperation.

The board asked Marikawa who was connected to a Kenyan track and field club, Mfae in Nyahururu to introduce promising young athletes to them with the idea of furthering their education and giving them opportunity to develop their talent. Karoki was the third Kenyan to run for the school since the inception of the exchange scheme.

His outlook in life completely changed when the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck Japan with destructive vengeance in March 2011, the largest ever recorded in the world since 1900 that led to 15,894 deaths, 6,156 injuries and 2,546 people missing across 20 prefectures in the country.

Although he survived the devastation wrought by the powerful magnitude 9 quake as he is based in Tokyo that is some 1891.5km from the Miyako epicentre of the killer tidal waves, Karoki was jolted to his core by the tsunami.

“I was having my lunch after finishing my practise at around 2pm and what I saw was dangerous, it was not a joke,” he recounted with horror in his eyes.

“Before they blocked the phones, I managed to call my mother and father to tell them I was okay then everything went off,” he recounted.