Kenya has Iten, but Nepal has Karnali to produce international runners on roads and mountains
- Karnali Sports Club gives youngsters a chance by introducing them to running, so they can compete at the top level and gain employment
- Karnali is likened to Iten, the famous village in Kenya that attracts runners from around the world to train and compete
You may have heard of Iten, but have you heard of Karnali? The town of Iten in Kenya is famous as a running factory that produces world and Olympic champions. Professional and amateur runners now flock to Iten to train.
Nepal has its own version of Iten – a remote town of Jumla in Karnali province in the Himalayan foothills. A local called Hari Rokaya overcame poverty and lack of prospects by becoming a runner and competing in two Olympic Games. He then founded a running academy, Karnali Sports Club, to give the local youngsters an opportunity to make a better life though running.
“My family was very poor, but from childhood I wanted to run, do nothing else. I ran and ran,” said Rokaya, 60. “People were not accepting sport as a career. Father and mother would tell me – go take the animals for grazing!
“But when my parents told me to go do something, I would run instead of walking.
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“I won district championship, then junior national championship, then national championship. After that, the community started to support me – ‘oh, you are a good runner. Keep running!’”
Rokaya’s bronze medal in the 5,000m at the South Asian Games in Kolkata in 1987 was the first time a person from Jumla won a medal in a sports event. He was rewarded with a government job – assistant athletics coach.
Rokaya then ran in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, taking part in the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m, setting two national records. Four years later he ran the marathon at the Barcelona Olympics. Rokaya then turned to mountain running, winning the Everest Marathon three times and earning an entry in the Guinness World Records for the fastest marathon at altitude.
In 2007, Rokaya set up Karnali Sports Club in the town of Jumla, realising that running could be a way for the youngsters of Karnali province to make something of themselves.
Why would the youngsters willingly add distance running, an exhausting, time-consuming sport, to their lives?
“Most do so for jobs,” explained Soraj Shahi, a board member of Karnali Sports Club. “When you become national or international champion – this is good marks (for the application) for the army and police. But some want to be athletes and don’t want to go to the army.”
Narayan Acharya, a native of Jumla, is a friend of Rokaya’s and a supporter of the club. He explains how agricultural land availability dictates a family’s destiny. “People living down in the valley can grow rice – they can have a better life. But girls and boys from the hillsides where there is no agricultural area to grow rice, they don’t get any opportunities at all. They start training (with Rokaya) because they want a secure job – if they get into the army or the police they don’t need to worry about the future.”
Karnali Running Club provides the students with basic living quarters. “Now we have two rooms, each shared by several runners. We provide gas and rice,” said Shahi.
The diet is spartan: dhal bhat (steamed rice and lentil soup) at 9am, then one roti during the day and lots of cups of milk tea. A light vegetable dinner before bed. The athletes train twice a day, on a basic dirt track and in the surrounding mountains.
Girls and boys train together, in itself an achievement in deeply patriarchal Karnali. Empowering local women is a major goal of Rokaya’s.
“Hari goes to district competitions, sees (female) winners, visits their family, explains – ‘I ran, and look how much I got from running. Your daughter can achieve a lot’,” said Shahi.
One of the club’s best alumni is Bisworupa Budha. She won the national 10km and half marathon titles, and now runs for the Nepali Army.
The list of the club’s high achievers shows many representing Nepali armed forces in athletics; others are doing the same for the police. Some are working as rangers, another prized government job, in Nepal’s national parks. Many have won district level-events, road marathons, and national junior and senior titles.
Rokaya’s academy, said Shahi, has produced almost 300 “serious athletes”, but the path to national team and international events is tricky for Rokaya’s students.
Acharya explains: “Politics! You must have good connections to get selected, your family must be connected with the national sports association.”
Shahi adds it is hard to get sponsors, saying: “We are in a very poor area of Nepal and companies only want to invest where they can benefit.”
He said the club is self-reliant. “When our athletes win prize money, they donate 15 per cent to the club. Another (source of income) – we are running a small solar flour mill. In one year, we make 200,000 rupees (about HK$13,000).
“Our athletes also work locally as electricians (to raise funds). Hari is a one-man army – an electrician, plumber, furniture maker. We also have our race – Jumla Rara Ultramarathon.”
Rokaya’s reputation, energy and charisma are the engine. “Everyone here loves Hari guru. He is a kind person, he loves to help others, he always jokes. Hari guru does not make a single penny out of this. He uses his own money to support runners,” said Shahi.
“We want to establish a hostel where our students can eat, study, sleep, and where athletes from outside Jumla, from abroad, can come and stay.”
