Paradise lost: McElhinney looks at Kenya differently now

Cork's Darragh McElhinney first went warm-weather training to Iten in Kenya four years ago, but much has changed since then in terms of Kenyan running and how it is perceived after a stream of positive doping tests that shows no sign of abating

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE: Men’s 5000m Final Darragh McElhinney running in the race Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

The ticket was a one-way, taking Darragh McElhinney out of Dublin's December cold and into the Kenyan highlands, 7000km away. Maybe it’d be a four-week camp. Maybe it’d be six weeks. Either way, he wasn’t coming down until he felt ready to race. Week by week, session by session, he’s getting there.

This is the 23-year-old’s fourth week in Iten, the ‘Home of Champions’ which sits at almost 8000ft of altitude. With soft, red-clay roads and a lush, green landscape, it’s a paradise for distance runners – the perfect place for the Glengarriff native to launch his Olympic dream.