High-altitude Kenyan town Iten adapts as Olympic champions and amateurs flock to rarefied air

ITEN, Kenya (AP) — As dawn breaks over the sleepy town of Iten, its dusty tracks come alive with packs of runners keeping rhythm, often followed by cheerful children headed to school.

Some of the athletes are elite Kenyans. Others travel from farther afield.

All are here because this unassuming little town lies at about 2,400 meters (8,000 feet) above sea-level and has produced some of the best long-distance runners in the world.

To cater to the ever-growing interest from both professional and amateur athletes, hotels, lodges and short-stay rental apartments continue to spring up around the town, located 350 kilometers (217 miles) northwest of Nairobi.

“I came to Kenya to feel this elite running community here," said Ryan Mex of Malta.

Mex, a semi-professional runner and coach, brought three athletes with him to get a competitive edge ahead of Malta’s marathon season.

It's his first time here.

“Next time I want to come with a larger group since we really like the training environment here,” Mex said. "This is the best place in the world to come for a training camp.”

Iten is home to some 42,000 people, mostly subsistence farmers, and it has also been a temporary home to plenty of world champions, including two-time Olympic gold medalists Eliud Kipchoge (marathon) and David Rudisha (800 meters), both of Kenya. British four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah would train in Iten for months at a time.

The town was declared a World Athletics Heritage Landmark in 2019 and proudly calls itself the “Home of Champions.”

Lornah Kiplagat, a Kenyan-born three-time Olympian for the Netherlands, attended high school in Iten and now runs a training center here for runners who want to up their game.

“If you train at 2,400 meters, your lungs expand, your red blood cells increase, and so when you go to low altitude you feel like you are flying,” explained Kiplagat, the 2008 world half-marathon champion.

Amanal Petros, a top marathoner from Germany, spends six months at Kiplagat’s center every year. Born in the Eritrean highlands, he was accustomed to running at high altitude but Iten’s elevation isn’t the only reason why he keeps coming back.

“I’ve trained in many places in the USA and Europe,” he said. “Organizing a training partner in Europe is not easy. But in Iten, the home of champions, wherever you go you find a lot of athletes who can train with you.”

Jean Paul Fourier opened the Kerio View Hotel in 2002 starting with a just few rooms. It now has capacity for 50 guests and includes a fitness center.

“I made a small investment and it has really grown,” he said.

The main season runs from April to September.

“We see many foreigners flocking to not only my hotel but also neighboring hotels. There are many hotels springing up around the area, but we still get our share of visitors,” he said.

One man here still remembers what Iten was like before all this happened: Brother Colm O’Connell, former headmaster at St. Patrick’s High School, whose alumni include Rudisha, Vivian Cheruiyot, Matthew Birir and Brimin Kipruto.

O’Connell first came to Iten to teach in 1976.

“It was just a scattering of houses and a school called St. Patrick’s,” he said. “That was really the starting point of what Iten eventually became, what we see today.”

The town’s transformation started “when the sport became professional," he said.

"Before that, athletes were confined to their place of work. But when professionalism came in, athletes could now sit down with their managers and with shoe companies and decide no, I can become a full-time career athlete.”

The rest, as they say, is history. O’Connell went on to transform the athletics program at St. Patrick’s, and 25 of his students became world champions, some of whom came back here to run their own athletics programs.

The town around the school boomed, as runners from all over the world discovered its training potential. O’Connell estimates that in peak season there are around 500 visiting runners in the town at any one time.

“We see fun runners, we have runners with personal goals, we have people running a marathon to fundraise," he said. "In other words, running is a sport for everybody and it has something to offer everybody.”

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Athletes undergo a training session at Kamariny Stadium in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Njuguna)

Maltese athletes in the company of locals train along the Iten-Kaptagat road in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Njuguna)

Maltese athletes in the company of locals train along the Iten-Kaptagat road in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Njuguna)

Eritrean-born German Amanal Petros after training at Kamariny Stadium in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Njuguna)

Maltese athletes in the company of locals train along the Iten-Kaptagat road in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Njuguna)

Eritrean-born German Amanal Petros, centre, interacts with other foreign athletes after training at Kamariny Stadium in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Njuguna)

Maltese athletes in the company of locals train along the Iten-Kaptagat road in Iten Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Njuguna)

Sports outfits are sold at the Iten Club in Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Njuguna)

A view of the entrance to Iten, considered a Mecca for producing some of Kenya's most elite athletes and a training ground for other international top distance runners in Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Njuguna)

Eritrean-born German Amanal Petros shops at the Iten local market in Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya after his training on Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Njuguna)

Amos Kimutai, the Operations administrator at the KipRun Athletics Camp, overlooks the Kerio Valley escarpment, one of the tourist attractions sites in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Njuguna)

Maltese athletes in the company of locals train along the Iten-Kaptagat road in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Njuguna)

LAKE BUTLER, Fla. (AP) — Jay North, who starred as the towheaded mischief maker on TV's “Dennis the Menace” for four seasons starting in 1959, has died. He was 73.

North died Sunday at his home in Lake Butler, Florida, and had colon cancer, said Laurie Jacobson, a longtime friend, and Bonnie Vent, who was his booking agent.

“He had a heart as big as a mountain, loved his friends deeply. He called us frequently and ended every conversation with ‘I love you with all my heart,’” Jacobson wrote in a tribute on Facebook.

North was 6 when he was cast as the smiling troublemaker in the CBS sitcom adaptation of Hank Ketcham's popular comic strip that took place in an idyllic American suburb.

Often wearing a striped shirt and overalls, Dennis’ mischievous antics frequently frustrated his retired next-door neighbor George Wilson, played by Joseph Kearns. After Kearns died, Gale Gordon played Wilson’s brother. Dennis' patient parents were played by Herbert Anderson and Gloria Henry.

The show ran on Sunday nights until it was canceled in 1963. After that it was a fixture for decades in syndication.

Later, North appeared on TV in shows including “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Lucy Show,” “My Three Sons,” “Lassie” and “The Simpsons,” and in movies like “Maya” (1966), “The Teacher” (1974) and “Dickie Robert: Former Child Star” (2003).

North is survived by his third wife, Cindy, and three stepdaughters.

FILE - Actor Jay North, in character as Dennis the Menace, shows his ever-present slingshot to show co-star Gale Gordon, on set in Hollywood, March 29, 1962. (AP Photo/David F. Smith, File)

FILE - Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax, right, gives TV star Jay North some pointers on pitching, Feb. 22, 1962, in Los Angeles (AP Photo/David F. Smith, File)

FILE - Jay North, young star of the new "Dennis the Menace" series, right, attempts to handcuff Dean Martin, center, as they play with a stuffed toy with Tony Curtis on Sept. 15, 1959. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Actor Jay North, in character as Dennis the Menace, shows his ever-present slingshot to show co-star Gale Gordon, on set in Hollywood, March 29, 1962. (AP Photo/David F. Smith, File)