Monday, February 24, 2025
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Kipsiro had a successful career on the track and cross country.
KAPCHORWA. Getting Moses Kipsiro t give you his time and presence is no easy feat. But once he trusts your intentions, he welcomes you like an old friend.
The double Commonwealth Games gold medalist – who also boasts African and World Championship success – is more than just an athletic icon; he’s a storyteller, mentor, and proud custodian of Uganda’s distance-running legacy.
During a recent visit to Kapchorwa, Kween, and Bukwo Districts in Eastern Uganda, where a Nation Media Group (NMG) team documented the lives of some of the athletes who have put Uganda on the global map, Kipsiro was more than a gracious host.
The legend, the myth
“Here,” he said, “you are at home. And later in Bukwo, you don’t have to worry about anything. Just relax and enjoy.”
Kipsiro spoke to us over a quick breakfast in Kapchorwa before joining us on a 65km drive through the snaking, rollercoaster-like roads that wind around the breathtaking hills of Kween and Bukwo – an awe-inspiring terrain of steep climbs, sharp descents, and endless, heart-stopping curves.
One of his minders had tried to explain to us which of his homes in Kapchorwa Kipsiro – after the previous day’s National Cross Country Championships in Tororo, where he had a team of youngsters – had spent the night.
“Kipsiro is a legend,” explained his boy, “he could have slept anywhere. He has many homes here and in Bukwo.”
Two standout homes of Kipsiro in Kapchorwa include a house constructed for him by President Museveni after his double 2010 gold feat in New Delhi, India, and another private one of his.
This is a man so powerful he brokers power in the region, especially in his home district of Bukwo and in areas across the border in Kenya, where local politicians in the two countries are said to seek his support before they embark on any elective campaigns.
“If Kipsiro says vote for this one,” claimed his minder, “a folklore enhanced by Kipsiro’s brother Robinson Kibet, “that’s the one they will vote for.” Such is the power the man has. Such is the power of sport.
Kipsiro beat legend Kipchoge (above) on the track. PHOTO/COURTESY
Kipchoge duel fairytale
Yet the man himself is not interested in elective politics. For now, at least. “I’m better off serving my people in a different way. I’m better off doing things that create jobs for the youth, as well as continue producing young athletes to keep Uganda’s map on the world stage.”
On top of his hotel in Bukwo Town, farming, a new radio station recently started by him and colleague Solomon Mutai called Kastar FM, Kipsiro is actively hosting an athletics camp to develop more of him, Joshua Cheptegei, Peruth Chemutai, Stephen Kiprotich, Jacob Kiplimo and Boniface Kiprop.
He wants another young Kipsiro to live and tell the tale of beating a legend like Eliud Kipchoge, the Kenyan long-distance great and world marathon icon… To be that renowned athlete whose name ruled the airwaves when radio was the ultimate king.
And boy, did he enjoy the moment when he – Moses Ndiema Kipsiro – finished ahead of Kipchoge, then Commonwealth defending champion in the 5,000m in 2010, and was splashed all over newspaper pages, TVs, and radio airwaves!
Kipchoge and another Kenyan, Mark Kiptoo, were favourites heading into that race, but once Kipsiro assumed the lead, he never relinquished it.
“I was in shape for that race,” Kipsiro recalled, as he ushered us into his home, nestled within the same grounds as his near-complete hotel – the Kipsiro Hilltop Hotel, which overlooks parts of Bukwo town with views of the Uganda-Kenya border and Mt. Elgon.
“The plan was to at least finish on the podium. I wanted to reserve energy so that I could get that final kick towards the end.
“But when I led, I dug deep and it was very special when I crossed the line ahead of the great Kipchoge. After the race, Kipchoge congratulated me and asked me whether I was going to run the 10,000m race, too.
“I told him ‘yes’ and he immediately told me I would win. ‘You are very strong. You will win.’ He then told me that he was getting off track and focusing on marathons.”
Born in a peasantry family in Singare, Bukwo, on September 2, 1986, Kipsiro has kept his head up amidst challenges. Little wonder he went on to become the sole breadwinner for his nine siblings (four boys and four boys) and parents.
As a form three pupil at Chesimat Primary School, Kipsiro often humiliated big boys in long distance races. But it was not until 2001 that he started taking athletics seriously.
Magic of radio
He had a burning desire to walk in the footsteps of Kenyan greats like Paul Tergat, Moses Kiptanui, Daniel Komen, and Wilson Kipketer.
Now, the residents of Sebei share such deep ties with their Kenyan Kalenjin kinsmen that it is not uncommon for them to follow events in Kenya more closely than those in Uganda.
Kipsiro in his radio station – Radio Kastar FM. Kastar means ‘See beyond the horizon’, resonating well with life beyond active sport. He says he and Solomon Mutai used the most basic means to start it and would welcome support to improve it. PHOTOS/ANDREW MWANGUHYA
This connection is evident in their media consumption and even in the prevalence of Kenyan license plates on local motorcycles.
“Dad had a radio and every night, after the news, there was the sports news,” Kipsiro narrated the origin of his love for running, “I would not sleep until after I’d listened to the sports news, and Dad knew it.
“Hearing those great names being mentioned on the radio every evening, I wanted my name to one day be read as an accomplished athlete on the radio,” he added, a smile inescapable.
“It is later when we went to train in Kenya that we were shown houses belonging to these legends that I said: ‘huh, so this running thing is serious business. I took it more seriously from then on.”
The three-time Commonwealth champion, Kipsiro, went on to host Komen at his home last year, when the Kenyan travelled to bid farewell to the late Rebecca Cheptegei.
In his early years, Kipsiro had moved for school competitions but had never left Bukwo to settle elsewhere.
But when he joined Standard High Zana in 2001, he quickly adapted, teaming up with Boniface Kiprop and Isaac Kiprop. The trio changed the face of long distance running in Uganda.
Others at Zana included James Kibet, and Patrick Cheboto. Cheboto later switched nationalities and competed for Qatar under the name Moustafa Ahmed Shebto.
Kipsiro Hilltop Hotel. He is still awaiting support promised by President Museveni to fully furnish it. He also has a big power problem because authorities asked him for Shs50m to extend power to it, which he doesn’t readily have. He currently uses a generator.
Kasajja, Kiprop tribute
Johnson Kasajja was one of the coaches handling Uganda’s new legion of young athletes, and Kipsiro believes he had a great influence on his career and that of later star Joshua Cheptegei.
“Kasajja is the one who taught me about strength training. He taught me that if you want to succeed, you have to exercise.”
Kipsiro also credits Boniface Kiprop for inspiring him and opening the door to Uganda’s long distance running, but is adamant that the latter has been criminally forgotten.
“I think he is forgotten,” Kipsiro elaborated. “I want to tell you, Boniface was a pure talent. A super talent. You know this God-given talent! The man even never used to train, sometimes. But he would just come, run, and beat people.
“Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie, they would all tell you how good Boniface was. If only he had access to their facilities and coaching early, he would have been even greater.
“In Uganda, he opened the doors for us – to the Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF) and me. It’s because of him that I got sponsorship with Puma.” Kiprop retired into farming and now lives across the border in Kenya.
Special Delhi
The 2010 Commonwealth Games double gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m in New Delhi remains the highest point of Kipsiro’s career.
The 5,000m, where he beat the great Kipchoge, was his specialty. But it was not until the Africa Seniors Championships that year in Nairobi when he gave the 10,000m a go, winning silver there. “After the silver in Nairobi, I was confident I could do both.”
The one gaping void is that Kipsiro never won an Olympic medal in his career. “I have accepted that fact, but I have won in life. I’m grateful.”
At the 2012 Games in London, he was denied a potential medal after stumbling in a packed group and falling after 7.36 minutes to finish 10th.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics saw him finish just outside the podium, behind Bekele, Kipchoge, and Edwin Cheruiyot Soi.
Case for Bukwo training facility
Upon his return from New Delhi, Kipsiro met with President Museveni and asked for a training ground in Bukwo. However, “greed and dishonesty by area leaders saw the request not honoured,” said Kipsiro.
Star studded. R to L Ganzi Mugula, Moses Kipsiro, Ashraf Chemonges, Solomon Mutai and another runner pose with the Legends Marathon finishers medals.
According to Kipsiro, the planning and technical team overpriced the structure, forcing the President’s team to halt the process.
“All we wanted was a simple training facility with a running track, easily accessible to our athletes, but our local leaders overpriced the simple project at Shs5bn and the President never continued with it.”
Two years later in 2012, the call for a high altitude training centre in Sebei still rang true and after Stephen Kiprotich won Uganda’s first Olympic gold medal since John Akii-Bua’s in 1972, President Museveni declared it would be constructed in Kapchorwa.
“The leaders in Kapchorwa were more focused. They developed a proposal and even got a better and bigger facility that cost even way more than the Shs5b.”
After over a decade, the Kiprotich High Altitude Training Centre in Teryet, Kapchorwa was officially commissioned by the President last December.
However, while largely serving the greater Sebei region, the centre in Kapchorwa remains out of reach for athletes from Bukwo.
“We are happy with the Teryet facility,” explained Kipsiro, “but what we are saying is that Bukwo, which has very many talents, also needs just a simple facility to help us because our people cannot afford to go to Kapchorwa every day. It is expensive both financially, mentally and physically.”
After the Delhi feat, Kipsiro was expected to be the next dominant force in long-distance races.
However, he skipped the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea, under mysterious circumstances.
One of the issues, according to Kipsiro, was the Shs100m the president gave Bukwo leadership to celebrate the athlete’s heroics in India.
Kipsiro “wanted some of that money to go into motivating the athletics camps in the region but the leaders were bent on spending it all on celebrations,” he said.
“So I was not happy. I also got sick at the time. So I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to go to Daegu.”
Moses Kipsiro cheers an athlete during the National Cross Country Championships.
Injury & the 10,000m title defence
Uganda’s jewel, who still carried a nagging knee problem, later picked himself up and – against odds – defended his 10,000m title at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
With a heavily bandaged knee, he barely beat Kenyan Josphat Kipkoech by 0.3 seconds. However, that was the beginning of his injury problems that saw his career begin a downward spiral.
Kipsiro was supposed to go to Dublin for immediate treatment after winning in Glasgow.
However, government officials – who were part of the delegation – insisted he first return to the country with the team before he started treatment.
Upon his return, he was rewarded with a car by President Museveni for winning gold. Because he had to travel back for treatment, Kipsiro left behind details so that his vehicle could be processed for him, but to this day, he has never received that vehicle.
“When I had returned to Dublin for treatment on my knee injury, I received a call from Victoria Motors informing me that the car promised to me from State House had been released.”
Although Kipsiro declined to drop names, he disclosed that he called some officials based at Okello House, where his passport details were taken to process receipt of the car, at the time, but “none of those people answered my phone calls.”
Charles Bakkabulindi, Sports Minister at the time in 2014, promised to follow up the matter but left his role before communicating any findings.
In 2021, after the elections, the president promised to follow up on the issue, as well as help him finish his hotel structure according to Kipsiro. “I still wait on the president, especially on the support of furnishing my hotel.”
Building the future, now
Back in Dublin, it was discovered that Kipsiro’s knee had been significantly damaged, leading to the specialists there joking with him ‘you man, you won gold on one leg.”
The athlete ended up missing the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – and with it vanishing the Olympic medal dream.
Kipsiro tried to find solace in road races after his injury but after a handful of marathons, the pain was unbearable. “Enough was enough,” he said.
Now, Kipsiro is focusing his energy on nurturing young talents in Bukwo. He has his own athletics camp with a gem in Herbert Kibet, one of the most promising stars.
Kipsiro, whose young runners sleep in temporary structures, with some accommodated in rooms at his hotel, is ensuring the youngsters get both athletics training and education by partnering with some schools across the country.
He feeds them and ensures they have all they need, but he needs help. “I’m grateful for some schools that are taking some of the kids on, but we need more support.
“I’m doing most of this with my own resources but if the government came on board, the picture would be completely different.”
Kipsiro offers lessons to young runners.
Sacrificing for a greater good has always been part of Kipsiro’s ethos. During preparations for the 2009 World Cross-country, Kipsiro facilitated the national team’s residential training by offering his car and fueling it to transport athletes.
“If the government could help us with a hostel, a van for transportation, and a running track,” Kipsiro told us, “that would be a great start.” Surely would. Wouldn’t it?
Kipsiro fact file
Name: Moses Ndiema Kipsiro
DOB: September 2, 1986 (age 38)
POB: Bukwo
Sport: Athletics – Track & Field, Cross Country
Event: 3,000m, 5,000m & 10,000m
Nationality: Ugandan
Career highlights
Commonwealth Games
2006: Melbourne, 7th, 5,000m
2010: Delhi, gold medalist, 5,000m
2010: Delhi, gold medalist, 10,000m
2014: Glasgow, gold medalist, 10,000m
Olympic Games
2008: Beijing, 4th at 5,000m
2012: London, 10th, 10,000m
IAAF World Championships in Athletics
2005: Helsinki, 12th in heat 2, 5,000m
2007: Osaka, bronze medalist, 5,000m
2009: Berlin, 4th, 5,000m
IAAF World Cross Country Championships
2006: Fukuoka, 29th in short race
2006: Fukuoka, 23rd in long race
2009: Amman, silver medalist in long race
IAAF Golden League
2007: Brussels, bronze medalist, 5,000m
2007: Zürich, bronze medalist, 3,000m
2007: Paris, gold medalist, 3,000m
IAAF Grand Prix
2005: Zagreb, gold medalist, 3,000m
2007: Monaco, silver medalist, 3,000m
African Championships
2006: Bambous, silver medalist, 5,000m
2006: Bambous, gold medalist, 10,000m
2010: Nairobi, silver medalist, 10,000m
All Africa Games
2007: Algiers, gold medalist, 5,000m
2011: Maputo, gold medalist, 5,000m
Other races
2005: Cork, 2nd at Cork City Sports 3,000m
2005: Trier, 1st at New Year’s Eve Race Trier
2006: Trier, 1st at New Year’s Eve Race Trier
2006: Guyan-Mestras, 1st at Cross Sud Ouest
2006: Fontenay Les Briis, 1st at RATP Cross Country
2006: Cork, 2nd at Cork City Sports 3,000m
2006: Solihull, 1st at BMC Solihull 5,000m
2006: Brazzaville, 3rd at 3,000m
2006: Belfast, 2nd at Belfast International Cross Country
2007: Trier, 1st at New Year’s Eve Trier
2007: Cork, 1st at Cork City Sports 3,000m
2007: Uganda, 2nd at Ugandan Cross Country Championships
2007: Le Mans, 2nd at Cross Ouest France
2007: Belfast, 1st at Belfast International Cross Country
2008: Sevilla, 1st at Cross Internacional de Itálica
2008: Belfast, 1st at Belfast International Cross Country
Personal bests
Distance Mark Date Location
1,500m 3:37.6 June 14, 2008 Watford, United Kingdom
3,000m 7:30.95 July 28, 2009 Monaco, France
5,000m 12:50.72 Sept 14, 2007 Brussels, Belgium
10,000m 27:04.48 une 22, 2012 Birmingham, United Kingdom
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