The Salopian no. 160 - Summer 2017

80
OLD SALOPIAN NEWS
Return to the Home of Champions
By Oscar Dickins (R 2010-15, Huntsman 2014-15)
Flying out of Addis Ababa four years
ago, after a fortnight in Ethiopia
and Kenya scrambling around dusty
tracks with the Hunt, I remember being
completely sold on the East African
runners’ way of life. They follow a
simple routine: an early morning run
at sunrise when the air is still cool;
for breakfast milky, sweet tea with
porridge or ugali (a dense and bland
mash of baked maize flour and water)
and a nap to follow. The day unfolds
with series of run, eat and then sleep
processes. They run when their body
feels ready to train which is about three
times per day. This may sound horrific
to most British people, but I thought
that their relaxed peaceful life was all
you need.
Despite our best efforts to skip certain
classes in order to train more times
a day, the Hunt’s training regime
remained the same and the air in
Shropshire at 6am on a winter’s
morning is slightly too cool. There
was slim prospect of becoming a
professional athlete and teenage
temptations tended to outweigh a life
dedicated to long distance running.
The Hunt’s tour to East Africa in 2013
was nevertheless extraordinary and,
with half of the first eight yet to reach
15 years of age, that season we put
in some astonishing performances. It
was the foothold for the Hunt’s recent
triumph on the national stage.
During our stay, we visited the Restart
Centre, where Henry Newbould and
Matt White have spent some time
working this year. It is an inspirational
place because of the orphans’ lives it
changes and the way it helps them.
There are lots of enterprises attached
to Restart to help funding. There was
a small vegetable farm, homeopathic
plant gardens, eco-friendly fuel
briquettes production and the Sanata
Women’s Group, which aims at
employing woman and utilising their
artistic needlework. This showed me
that small enterprises can make a huge
impact and how much potential there is
for development.
I didn’t imagine that in the near future
I have would been fortunate enough
to go back and run in Kenya, although
I did want to do something charitable
if I took a year out. Just after finishing
my A2s I found out about International
Citizens Service and then about Balloon
Ventures. Balloon helps entrepreneurs
in Uganda, Ghana, The Philippines
and… Kenya. I was not considering
doing much running in my gap year –
I was ready for a year off – but the idea
of going back to Kenya really excited
me, plus the fact that Balloon targets
entrepreneurship, which was an area
of potential development that I had
observed. So, I angled in on Kenya
and then ended up in Eldoret, which
is the ‘Home of Champions’, and all of
a sudden I am surrounded by the best
runners in the world. As I type, Eliud
Kipchoge from the Eldoret region just
ran a marathon in 2.00.25, the fastest
ever marathon. It was not hard for
me to throw myself rapidly back into
training mode. I met an international
athlete in my village called Laban who
I trained with for a while; unfortunately
I was too fast and he didn’t want to
hold me back any longer.
The work I did with Balloon Ventures
was life-changing for me. My team
of three, which included a Newcastle
graduate from London and a
Kenyan volunteer, helped five local
entrepreneurs for three months. Living
with a Kenyan family and working
closely with the small businesses for
an intense period of time, I made
life-long Kenyan and English friends.
The experience would not have been
so rewarding if I hadn’t already found
my passion for running from the Hunt
and been able to return to the Home of
Champions and join in with what they
do best.