“My family has struggled in life. We did not have a lot of money. But together we were always happy. They have been my biggest support. I am happy that I am able to help them now,” says Dennis Kimetto, aged 30, an elite marathon athlete who currently owns the World Record for being the Fastest Marathoner. Hailing from Eldoret in Kenya and a rural farming community, Dennis has broken all the odds and stands out to be the best example of ‘passion with dedication’.

In 2010, while being a subsistence farmer in Kenya, he began casual training. Through a chance meeting with Boston and New York City Marathon course record holder Geoffre Mutai, Dennis joined for training. “I came into a large group of athletes and tried to pick up the training,” he says. Kimetto split his time between his farming and training camp, located in a secluded area about eight kilometres outside Kapng’tuny. Eventually, he took running seriously in 2011 and trained self to the extent to get victory and pen his name as a world best for 25 Km road distance in 1:11:18. “I consider the world record of 25K as a milestone in my life. The decision to train fulltime made a difficult transition for my family because money yet had to materialize and work on the farm couldn’t be neglected,” he says.

His races outside Kenya commenced in September, 2012, while in his debut marathon at Berlin, he finished 2^nd, just one second behind his mentor Geoffre Mutai, in 2:04:16, the fastest debut in history on a record-eligible course. Many observers noticed that Kimetto stayed solidly behind the more prominent Mutai in the final section of the race and concluded that he allowed his mentor to take the victory.

Kimetto got victorious at the Tokyo Marathon in February, 2013, where he ran 2:06:50 to break the course record. This record was then broken by 2014 winner Dickson Chumba's 2:05:42. Eight months later, Kimetto won the Chicago Marathon securing the first place in a course record of 2:03:45.

Kimetto’s favourite marathons are Berlin, Tokyo and Chicago. At Berlin, he stood 1^st in Berlin Half Marathon and in BIG 25 Berlin. He secured 2^nd in Berlin Marathon 2012 with 2:04:16 and then worked harder upon training EVERYDAY to secure 1^st place at the same marathon in 2014 with 2:02:57 and became the first person in the history to go under 2Hours 03Minutes on any course.

Kimetto says, “The performance that earned $100,000 for the victory and a $75,000 bonus for breaking the course record was life-altering.” He bought a new house, a good car and gave all comforts to parents and siblings which he couldn’t earlier. He also increased the farming with this money.

“In addition to power, stamina, and endurance, one has to keep believing on self. Self-belief and mental balance along with focus plays a prominent role when it comes to sports like running. Also, without a well balanced diet the results in running are not promising.” says Dennis Kimetto.

“At the time of competition I see other athletes as my opponents not friends but while training, we run together and believe that helping each other gives best results,” mentions Kimetto.
Running marathons since 2011 has influenced the lifestyle of a struggling subsistence farmer to a better living with notable achievements. Kimetto comes from a humble family background that gives him the winning and the fighter attitude. Kimetto believes that he is capable of running faster but he is not driven by the clock!

“At times when I started running, it tempted me to quit running because my training mates were much stronger than me. This made me realize how far I was to still climb to reach the peak. As time went by, this feeling grew its roots deep in me and there was no other way to come out except to IMPROVE. I improved with time, and today, I feel extremely delighted to have overcome this challenge,” he narrated with a big smile.

“Believe in yourself. Take things step by step to make better results,” is his mantra of success.