As
with so many of his fellow elite Kenyan runners, 32 year-old Geoffrey
Ronoh exudes the epitome of laidback cool, even with race day
approaching and facing questions of whether he can reproduce the
devastating form of last year. Not only did he beat the renowned road
exponent Geoffrey Mutai by four seconds to win the Birell Prague Grand
Prix, he handed the then world record holder in the marathon and his
training partner, Wilson Kipsang, a racing lesson in winning the Mattoni
Olomouc Half Marathon to announce his arrival as a formidable road
racer on the international scene.
His form in 2015 has stuttered
because of injury. He was troubled by a hamstring injury after
finishing fifth in the Volkswagen Prague Marathon in 2:10:52
in early May, a personal best for the distance but the dominance of the
previous year was absent. The persistent injury forced him to withdraw
from racing but regular massage and easy running at his base in Iten
have revived him. He believes he can produce his best form for Saturday:
“This year I had many injuries but my recent training has been going
well. I’m back to my normal shape. I want to improve my time of 27:28
and Prague will also be a form guide as I look to run a marathon before
the end of the year.”
Any idea that his excellence as a
professional runner of three years’ standing is produced by a focus on
running, rest and precious little else is soon dispelled, once the
conversation turns to his parallel life as a Wildlife Ranger. This is no
sinecure, but a proper job bringing danger and shift work which would
seem daunting even without the demands of top-class athletics. “I do
sentry duty and that includes night shift. I have been taking this
positively, I try to utilise my time, I try to budget with it, so when
I’m on night duty, I consider it my day and sleep during the day.”
It
was a boyhood of weekends and holidays with friends, hunting in the
bush, which first attracted him to a career as a ranger which now goes
back eleven years. But the young Ronoh began to think of conservation
rather than hunting: “We’d go hunting but then I began to think of
guarding the animals instead of hunting them, no more killing but
looking after them.”
This led to enrolling in the ranger force,
mandatory military training including, as Geoffrey Ronoh describes it:
“Refresher courses with the British Army when they come to Kenya, I am
trained to use a gun. I’ve come across contacts with poachers in my
duties and have recovered both guns and ivories.”
This career
also provided an impressive stamina base – he describes tracking in the
bush up to 200km in a small group, on the lookout for poachers. It’s
little wonder he possessed such a formidable engine when he entered the
professional running world. As for a future when his running is no
longer at the elite level, Geoffrey Ronoh is in no doubt where this
lies: “It was an ambition since my schooldays to be a Wildlife Ranger.
Some lived in my village and I liked the way they behaved to us. I liked
everything about their way of life, what they did for animals.”
Further information about the Birell Prague Grand Prix can be found online: www.runczech.com
Image Source: Birell Prague Grand Prix
By Andy Edwards