64 years since first taking part, Kenya joins other countries in ‘Club Games’

Kenya is one of 71 nations competing at the 2018 Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast, Queensland in Australia. It is 64 years since Kenya first participated in the event.

It was at Vancouver, Canada that Kenya got its first international athletics competition during the Commonwealth games held that year.

Back then, the games were known as the British Empire & Commonwealth (BE&C) Games and would provide thrilling action such as when British middle-distance athlete Roger Bannister ran the mile under four minutes, breaking what had been billed as an impossible feat. 

An international multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, the  event was first held in 1930, and has taken place every four years since then (with the exception of 1942 and 1946, which were cancelled due to World War II).

It was only in the fifth rounds that Kenya joined the nations under the crumbling British Empire who were coming together to share a platform in games.

Kenyans had already shown great athletic promise by conquering regional nations in various track and field disciplines. 

Kenyans held nearly all the regional records and team manager, Mr Archie Evans, thought they should enter the BE&C Games.

But much of the success of Kenya as an athletics powerhouse can be attributed to Evans, a keen sporting enthusiast who identified the early talent of Kenyan athletes and would showcase them in Canada in 1954. 

Evans was born in 1922 in Keswick, Cumberland in the English Lake District in Northern England.

He began his early education in the Keswick area and later went to Keswick High School for his secondary education. He proceeded to college but after only a year, he decided instead to join the British Army in 1942 at the height of the World War II.  He joined the Kings African Rifles (KAR) in Kenya and relocated to Nairobi. 

After a brief stint in Kenya, he went to Burma with the Kenyan troops to fight in the Far East. It was in the Army that Evans was tasked with developing a physical fitness programme for the soldiers.

He returned to Kenya after the war in 1945, having attained the rank of Captain in the Border Regiment and left for England shortly afterwards. He however felt his future lay in Kenya and together with his wife, returned in 1947.

He began working at Jeanes School Kabete in a special training centre known as the “Ex-Servicemen’s Training School” designed to equip demobilised military personnel.

In 1949, Evans was appointed ‘Colony Sports Officer’ and now embarked on training Kenyans on Athletics programmes and organising national championships.

He entered teams into regional championships and Kenyans almost always swept the medals against such nations as Uganda, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia. 

While on a visit to England in 1951, the sports enthusiast visited the office of the Amateur Athletics Association (AAA), creating important linkages that would prove very useful for Kenyan athletics.

He began to make plans to have such a body for Kenya. On his return, he brought together like-minded individuals and incorporated the Kenya Amateur Athletics Association, serving as its honorary secretary while Derek Q. Erskine was elected president.

After conquering the region, Archie Evans next embarked on his biggest project yet - taking Kenya to the fifth BE&C games in Vancouver.

This was the very first time Kenyans were competing for medals outside Africa. But Vancouver being so far away, it was outlandishly costly to travel there. Evans not one to be deterred, wrote to whoever could help raise the money.

This is where Mr Derek Erskine came in handy. A settler farmer and businessman, Erskine was a man of means and he helped pay for the tickets and some of the team expenses. 

Evans then selected a lean nine-man track and field team which included Korigo Barno (120 yards Hurdles, 4x440 yards); Paul Kipkorir Boit (4x440 yards); Lazaro Chepkwony (3 Mile, 6 Mile); Kiptalam Keter  (4x440 yards, 880 yards); Lenemeria Jonathan  (High Jump); Nyandika Maiyoro  (3 Miles); Kiprono Maritim (High Jump); Musembi Mbathi (4x440 yards) and Maboria Tesot  (Javelin).

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Following his close connection with British AAA coach Dennis Watts, Evans decided that his team would first compete in London before going to Vancouver. In July 1954, their plane left Nairobi for London where they were scheduled to compete against the elite British team at London’s White City Stadium. 

Under the sweltering Summer heat, the Kenya athletes participated in their first international athletics competition outside Africa. On July 11, 1954, a very excited Evans telegraphed Nairobi announcing that Kenya had finished third in the three-mile race ran by Maiyoro.

Maritim also came third in the high Jump, while Tesot came third in javelin. This gave them hope of returning to Kenya with at least three medals. 

The Kenya team arrived in Vancouver on Wednesday July 21, 1954. There were some 568 men and 94 women competing representing 24 national teams.

The African teams included Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, South Africa, Uganda, Gold Coast, Nigeria and Kenya. Only Gold Coast, Uganda and Kenya had an all-black team while Nigeria had a multi-racial team and the rest had all-white teams. Kenya’s team manager was white.   

During the competition, Korigo Barno posted a time of 0:16.3 seconds, finishing sixth (last) in second heats of the 120 yards hurdles. The final ran on August 5, 1954 was won by Keith Gardner of Jamaica who set a new Commonwealth record at 0:14.2.

In 440 yards, Korigo Barno also came sixth (last) in the first heats in 57.2secs. The final was held on August 3, 1954 and was won by David Lean of Australia in a time of 52.7. Lean set a new Commonwealth record. 

In high jump final, Kenya’s Maritim came sixth with a height of 6 ft. 2 ins. Also, Jonathan of Kenya came eighth, jumping 6 ft. 0 ins. The event, which was held on July 31, 1954 was won by Nigeria’s Ifeanuna Emmanuel who became Africa’s first international gold medalist. He won with 6 ft. 8 ins in a Commonwealth record.  

Uganda won its first ever medal, a silver, in the event through Patrick Etolu who jumped 6 ft. 6¼ ins while Osagie Nafiu of Nigeria took bronze with a height of 6 ft. 6¼ ins for an African clean sweep. 

On August 7, the Kenya’s 4x440 yards team of Boit, Keter, Barno and Mbathi finished fourth in the final in a time of 3min,18.6sec, losing to Australia by a second and coming so close to the old Commonwealth record of 3:16.8 set in 1934.

England won the race in a time of 3:11.2 to set a new Commonwealth record, while Canada was second in 3:11.6 which was within the old record. 

Kenya’s hope in the one-miler, Kiptalam Keter, could not beat the legendary performance of Britain’s Roger Bannister who for the first time in history ran the mile below four minutes. Bannister ran and won in 3:58.8 which was 25 seconds off the Kenyan national record set and held by Juma arap Lagat in 1952. 

This however was the last time Kenya returned from the games without a medal. Bartonjo Rotich won Kenya’s first international medal when he came third in the 440 yards at the British Empire Games in Cardiff in 1958. In the 1954 team, only Maiyoro and Lazaro Kiplagat Chepkwony are still alive. Kiptalam Keter died in 2013.

Kenya has since attended 15 editions of the Commonwealth Games, missing only the 1986 games, and won 220 medals.