Letter from Europe: Kenyan Catch-up

Latest column published in the December edition of Vo2max. David Kinjah has one hell of a story to tell. There's way more than what I put down here and hopefully I'll find some time soon to write the rest. Check out his project, www.safarisimbaz.com, he's doing some great work in difficult circumstances.

Following the cycling road events at the recent Commonwealth Games in India reminded me of experiencing the Melbourne Games four years earlier. I was impressed by the sheer doggedness of two relatively unknown Kenyan riders who had played significant roles in the road race’s main break of the day and closing stages.

David Kinjah, 34-years-old at the time, had gone on the attack early with Duncan Urquhart (Scotland) Jeremy Maartens (South Africa), Domenic Perras (Canada) and Robin Sharman (England), staying out in front for 95km until caught with 44km remaining. Soon after his compatriot, 21-year-old Chris Froome, launched a counter attack, unfortunately pulling his foot from the pedal at a crucial moment but nonetheless causing a ferocious chase in the peloton.

Kinjah and Froome had taken the racing to the favourites, making their mark far stronger than many of the well-known and experienced professionals in the pack.

What made the duo’s efforts all the more remarkable was that they both competed in the mountain bike event three days prior and the time trial two days before that. “We were registered to ride the track too,” Froome said at the time, “but couldn’t get hold of enough equipment to race.”

Froome was first off in the time trial, his effort so good that he sat on the top of the leaderboard for over an hour until Kiwi Logan Hutchings came in two minutes quicker. Froome eventually went on to finish 17th.

In an interview he explained to me how difficult it was to get funding from the government and how he was “going to put all his efforts into one day getting hired by a professional team in Europe”. Admittedly I was sceptical about his chances, but now, four years on, Froome has shown himself to be a solid professional cyclist with a promising future ahead of him.

After the 2006 Melbourne Games, he rode for South African development squad Konica Minolta, and then landed a pro contract with Barlowald for 2007 and 2008. He debuted at the Tour in 2008, featuring prominently in a break to Alpe d’Huez and reaching Paris in 84th position overall.

He changed his nationality to British in 2008 – his parents are both originally from England – and now rides for Team Sky, who say on their website that he “has been described as a rough, unpolished diamond with loads of potential.“

At the Delhi Games, Froome, now 25, picked up fifth in the time trial and rode strongly for the English team in the road race, crossing the line 44th. He says he wants to become a general classification rider, aiming for top positions in stage races. This time I am inclined to believe him.

David Kinjah, meanwhile, is still involved in cycling, running Safari Simbaz, a non-governmental organisation devoted to training and coaching young Kenyan cyclists.

“I want to concentrate on the sport,” he says. “I teach them everything: how to fix their bikes, racing tactics, training and so on. I have about 20 boys in my team, and 95% of it is funded through my work as a bike mechanic.”

Unfortunately he has had what can only be described as a massive falling out with the Kenyan Cycling Federation that culminated in him being banned from racing after the Commonwealth Games in 2006.

Kinjah says that the Federation wanted to see him fail, even trying to sabotage his and Froome’s chances in Melbourne. He had to scrounge and buy bicycles and parts as the Federation refused to supply them with the right equipment and, during the road race, he says the Kenyan cycling officials even hid their spare bottles and food.

“We had a cooler box of supplies which they took away from our support area on the course. I only had two half-filled bottles of water with me and had to try and get bottles from other teams to keep going.”

After his epic breakaway, Kinjah was interviewed by the race commentator and let his anger boil over.

“The interviewer asked me what would it take to see a Kenyan rider on the podium in a cycling event and I said that Federation needed to start behaving and acting professionally.”

The comments infuriated the Kenyan Federation officials and by the time he got back to the area where the team was supposed to be recovering, the riders and Federation officials were physically fighting.

For Kinjah it was a sad way to end his international career, but he remains positive about changing the system and producing riders capable of competing at the highest level.

“The Safari Simbaz will strive to find cycling success with whatever opportunities are presented to them and will keep pushing for the realization of the power and the potential of the sport.”