Aleksander Duda: Hi, my name is Aleksander Duda and today I will be talking with Ugandan coach Peter Chelangat. Thank you for joining me.
Peter Chelangat: Yeah, thank you.
AD: You're doing great job coaching Ugandan athletes, but unfortunately your name isn't well-known in the running community. Could you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit more about your work?
PC: Okay, my name is Peter Chelangat and I work with Uganda Athletics Federation majorly on managing camp and national training for athletes. I appreciate us connecting today and may be discussing together. Thank you.
AD: You discovered Jacob Kiplimo’s talent when he was like 15 years old, because it was around 2015. Now he's 21 and he's already a world record holder. What did you feel when you saw the race results from the Lisbon Half Marathon?
PC: When I saw the results from Lisbon and I saw Jacob breaking the world record I was very excited and I was super happy, because he has made for Uganda, as a country, a big name. He has made a name for the Federation of athletics in Uganda and also for us as the community he has done it very well. And then also for Rosa Management, where Jacob happens to run with and I also do partly the management. Really the management was very happy. So I was super proud of what Jacob has done and I wouldn't say that I do the training programs for Jakob alone, but we do together with my counterpart friend in Italy called Iacopo Brasi. So we do it together.
AD: I wanted to ask about your cooperation with Iacopo Brasi, because you're coaching Jacob together. How does he help you in creating the training program?
PC: He comes with a program and then we try to see together how fitting it would be for the program for Jacob to use. So we look at it and then we see where there are gaps and then also we see can this be fitting on all that. He’s also a great friend and a great coach in Italy.
AD: After the race, I saw a video with Joshua Cheptegei and other guys dancing and celebrating after Jacob's race in Lisbon. In many countries, there is a lot of rivalry among the best athletes, but there it seems like a family. What do you think about this?
PC: Immediately when Jacob won that race, I was still in church, you know, I also do church work. So when I was in church is when I see the results. And everyone is calling me "Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? We need to celebrate." So what we did was: we had to go to our camp, that is the Rosa Camp in Kapchorwa, and then we organized some party and to my very good surprise was to see our brother Joshua Cheptegei coming and the other colleagues come and we all celebrate. And that really made me so happy for a reason that like you have said in some countries, it is sometimes very difficult for top athletes to come together. But here it is a little bit unique, because Joshua himself is so close to Jacob and he doesn't look at him as a rival. But he just looks at him as everybody competing and a friend. You see that there is nothing like for him to say that maybe is an enemy or whatnot. They all run as friends and they all run as Ugandans. Jacob bringing that record to Uganda or something to celebrate by Joshua also, because we needed those medals to come to our country. So we are all as a family here in Kapchorwa in Uganda.
AD: So now I would like to focus on your story. You were born and raised in Ngenge, Kween District in Eastern Uganda. Is that right?
PC: Yeah, I was born in Ngenge in the lower belt of Sebei, but since 1985 we migrated to Kapchorwa town. Because we had a challenge of the Karamojong raiders, who are the neighbors to Ngenge to the North. So these people destabilized the whole lower belt of Sebei, because they were raiders of cattle. And they took people's cattle, properties, burned houses and all that. So what happened was for us to migrate to Kapchorwa town. So since 1985, up to now I have been in Kapchorwa town, where I have spent much of my time. But once in a while, I go to the lower belt of Sebei to check on the farm. But majorly, I am stationed here in Kapchorwa since 1985. Because I wanted to say that now, the peace has come in the lower belt of Sebei and now people are settling back.
AD: So where does your passion for athletics come from?
PC: My passion for athletics started when I was in high school in Sebei College Tegeres. I was in the church sports in the school, I used to coordinate in sporting programs and all that. That time, I loved running. I could run even 25 laps, that's 10,000 (meters). I could even run cross country. But I don't want to say that I was the best. No, I was an average athlete and I loved and I had the passion for the sport. We couldn't have opportunities like the way our friends now have. A few athletes could get exposure and a few of them left the country and they went to the United States up to today. But for us, we remained here. And then also when I went to university, I still had that passion of athletics and after I finished university at Makerere University in 2009, I came back to my community and I was working with a children's organization. So around 2011 I started a club with a colleague who was in the States called Sipi Falls Athletics Club. When we started that club that is when we started realizing a number of athletes, we started now spotting some kind of talents. After sporting that talents, we started taking them and exposing them for competitions. But well, I lacked the facilitation because I wasn't having enough resources to gather for these athletes. So I decided to swap our athletes with one of the officials in Kampala who was working in the Federation. So we joined together with the Arua Athletics Club. And that is where I started getting facilitation to help athletes to train. I continued all that time up to today in the athletics arena. Otherwise my passion started when I was still in primary and high school. I used to run all: middle distance and long distance. I was so good in the short, but I was not very good in long, but I could finish even 25 laps.
AD: And when you see a young talented runner, what are the biggest challenges for him to become a professional athlete?
PC: The biggest challenges, majorly, for upcoming athletes is [...] most of them come from a very low background, whereby there are a lot of things that they may lack. When you look at them sometimes they may even lack training facilities like shoes, they may also lack things like clothes, they may also lack even sometimes to get food, like breakfast after having a very serious training. So you realize again [...] all those things become very difficult. And sometimes now more especially to the girls is that they may even sometimes lack things like sanitary pads. So at the end of the day, you would find that they drop out of running because they are lacking some of the things. And also, we don't even have so many training fields, good fields. We've got a few. So all those things become a challenge for them. So they cannot progress very well.
And now also we've got a few international managers who can come down and then help these people. You realize that all those things are a challenge. So it affects them. But once we have all these things put in place then we can raise so many talents in this country, in Uganda.
AD: What had the biggest influence on your training philosophy? Books, coaches that you've met or your own experience?
PC: It’s majorly my own experience. Also with the support and help from my friend in Italy and Rosa management, and then plus the Uganda Athletic Federation. I also studied sports management under the scholarship from the International Olympics Council.
AD: In your training system, what training sessions, do you think, are crucial for long distance runners that you coach in Uganda?
PC: All the sessions are crucial and necessary, because what you know is (that) we have a program from Monday to Saturday. So, you realize that all are very important, because now we've got programs like easy run, we've also fartlek, we’ve hill climbing, we’ve tempo runs, we also have long run. So you realize that all that holistically will help the athlete to perform very well. And then you cannot underestimate any program because all the program from easy to long run and speed work is very good.
AD: You're running in very hilly terrain. Is mileage lower because of that?
PC: For us in Kapchorwa, we are living in a mountain area, but that doesn't mean that we only train in the mountains. What we do is when it is an easy run, we can do them along the mountain here. When it’s speed work, we do the speed works within the tracks that are good here in Kapchorwa. And then when it comes to something like a tempo run or a long run, sometimes we go to the lower elevation, because we wouldn't want our athletes to have that experience of over climbing hills. But we got a session that we also train, that's hill climbing. So we make a workout for that. So the most important thing is (that) we go for low elevations when it comes to something like the long distance running, like you're running 21 kilometers or you want to run 40 kilometers training and all that. So we keep alternating and all this is beautiful for them.
AD: And when you're talking about lower altitude, what do you mean? What altitude is it?
PC: When I talk about the low altitude means that we are taking them on a flat course. When you're in Kapchorwa, we are at an altitude of 1800. When you climb again on the other side of Kapchorwa it goes to an altitude of 2300 to even 3000, as you climb Mount Elgon, you know we are in the Mount Elgon region. So the other area is a higher elevation, but the lower side has a low altitude which is only good for tempo runs and then long runs.
AD: And now coming back to Jacob, could you describe how you discovered that he's a talented runner?
PC: Jacob used to run when he was still even in primary (school). And then how his talent was discovered is when he ran a mountain race. And then when he ran that mountain race as a young boy, he became number one and he won. And from there now that is when Jacob was picked and then he was taken to Italy where he trained, as he could also come and be trained together at home. Yeah, but also the World also realized Jacob when he represented Uganda as one of the youngest athletes in the Rio, Brazil, Olympics. That was in 2016. That's when the world now was able to realize that “Oh, Jacob is also a great talent”, at that young age he was able to represent the country.
AD: Yeah, because in Rio, he ran about 13:30 for 5000 meters while he was 15 years old, I think.
PC: Yeah, He was 15.
AD: That's really amazing.
PC: But Jacob is an amazing person, very amazing. He has self determination, he has a lot of discipline. His character is very good. He doesn't have any issues with anyone. He would love to support and help everyone. He has that passion and feel to run and I believe there are more things that he has to do in the world of athletics.
AD: One thing that I've noticed was that Jacob was very optimistic. When I saw him in Lisbon, because I met him in Lisbon, he was almost all the time smiling, he laughed a lot. Is it also an important trait of his character?
PC: Yeah. And he has got some kind of natural talent inside of him. That also it's boosted by his continuous training, but naturally, he is talented.
AD: And did he train while being a high school student or did he become a professional athlete very early?
PC: He became a professional athlete very early at the age of 15. (laughing)
AD: There are many runners in his family. Mountain running World champion Victor Kiplangat, 2:09 marathoner Robert Chemonges, 13:06 5000m runner Oscar Chelimo are his brothers. Was his father also a runner?
PC: Yeah, his story tells us that his father was a great athlete and therefore every child now has gotten that gene of the father to run. Because when you look at Victor and Chemonges Robert, (they) are from another mother, then we look at now Chelimo Oscar, (he) is also from another mother, and then now, Kiplimo Jacob is from another mother. But every family has got children that are running. So it means that the gene comes from the father. And I helped all of them, I was with Victor, I was with Oscar, I was with Chemonges Robert, all the way from 2011. Until now when they joined the Police Force, that is when they moved from me. But currently I'm also with Robert Chemonges in Rosa Management.
AD: Okay, so do you think that growing up with such a family background was beneficial for his athletic development?
PC: Yeah, I think it was beneficial, I believe so it is beneficial, because the whole inspiration comes from the father, his late father.
AD: In August, Jacob competed in the Tokyo Olympics and Diamond League. How much time did it take him to recover after the track season? And when did the preparation for the Lisbon Half Marathon start?
PC: After the Tokyo Olympics, Jacob was able to come and have some races like in 2 to 3 weeks. Then from there, that's when we started another training session. So he had a rest of almost a month, because he needed to rest himself. And then after that, we started the training program.
AD: In Lisbon, Jacob seemed very confident during the race, he ran almost all the distance alone without any pacemakers or competitors beside him. Where do you think his confidence comes from?
PC: His confidence comes from his training program. When he looked at how he had trained himself and he looked that his health was fine. So Jacob had the confidence that he'd run, and then win that race. Because already he knows he had trained enough and his body was in shape and he had no health issues. So he was confident he could run and win that race.
AD: Speaking more specifically about his training, what was his weekly mileage during this preparation and (what were) the typical training sessions?
PC: Now, I wouldn't say much about that. But I would say that, from the beginning of the training, we could go for a longer training session. But towards his competition in Lisbon, we had to reduce his training program, because he had also to reserve his energy so that he could go and run in Lisbon well. So the only thing was, we had lengthy training sessions in the beginning, but at the end, we reduced the training workout. Only to help him to save the energy.
AD: Which of the training sessions made you confident that Jacob was well prepared for the race? He said that he had run 20 kilometers in 58 minutes before coming to Portugal.
PC: Yes, of course. And then also, and also the speed work. There is one we did, he could even run 56 (seconds) in 400 meters. Find someone running 56. It was 400m×8.
AD: What was the rest between the sets?
PC: Of course, in that it’s always recovery of 2 minutes,
AD: Thank you. So, apart from being a coach you’re also a pastor. Is it difficult to combine these two activities?
PC: No, it is not difficult. What is quite important is (that) prayers also work. And therefore, I concentrate myself with athletics program from Monday to Saturday. But after the training sessions, I'll also be concentrating on my other things like farming, to support my family, and then also concentrating on church. So always on Sunday, I go to church, and then I also ask some of the athletes if they are willing, let us go to church. Reason being, athletics requires a lot of discipline, so that you can succeed. And the place where athletes can get discipline is when they go to church, and they will learn the word of God. Once they hear and they learn the word of God that will help them to instill some good morals in them and it will help them be good athletes who are disciplined, and then they can run very well. So church also is very important.
AD: Okay, so is Sunday a free day for athletes?
PC: We look at Sunday as a resting day for athletes. So when they are resting, then we go to church and worship and praise God. And then maybe just in the evening, on Sunday, we can do an easy run. That's like, we can just go for like 20 minutes or 30 minutes.
AD: During the normal weekdays, how many training sessions per day are you doing?
PC: It depends. There is a time you can have 2 sessions, that is training in the morning and then easy training in the evening. But there is a time you can have training in the morning, and then you can also have in mid morning, and then you have in the evening. So it depends.
AD: So from 2 up to 3 training sessions a day?
PC: Yeah, majorly there are two, but sometimes you can have three. And once they finish that kind of training, they go and rest.
AD: Okay. Yesterday, the RAK Half Marathon organizers announced that in February, Jakob will participate in their event. What do you expect from him in this race?
PC: We have had, and our management has spoken about that. But I believe if Jacob is going to run in that race; what I would say is, he will perform even better than in the Lisbon run, according to me. If it happens that he goes, I believe he will run the best time, even (better than) the time he ran in Lisbon. Because he will be having friends and counterparts who will even help him to pace. So compared to Lisbon, where he only ran alone.he paced for himself in Lisbon alone. In RAK, I believe we will be having athletes from management who will help push him more.
AD: I think that the one challenge that will be in RAK is that the temperatures are about 18/19 degrees.
PC: It could be very hot?
AD: It’s not hot, but it’s not perfect for distance running. So I think it would be maybe a challenge, but apart from there…
PC: You know, it is likely going to depend on the weather. If the weather is going to be favorable, then everything will be favorable. But we will also try to train in areas which almost also have the same temperatures at that time.
AD: Okay. So I think that's all. Thank you very much for having this opportunity to talk with you. It was great to meet and maybe we'll meet some day.
PC: All right. Thank you