Liberty stars give running clinic

By COURTNEY LEWIS
Staff Writer

August 14, 2007 04:00 am

— PERU "" In his first cross country race, Sammy Chelanga found himself alone in the woods and, concluding he had gotten lost, starting walking back.
It turned out he was all alone because he was so far ahead of the rest of the field.
"When my coach was trying to give me pre-race advice, trying to tell me how to run, the strategy, that made me so scared," the 22-year-old from Kenya said. "I was prepared for like a huge fight, to run so hard. So when the gun went off, I'm sprinting so hard, trying to find a place to run. So like I just kept going, and when I was in the woods, I realized, all these woods, I don't see anybody.
"So I say, This a bad race. Let me just ... go tell my coach I'm lost.' And then when I was just walking, I see these guys running right in front of me. And I just turned back, and I just kept on going."
Chelanga won that race "" the Fordham Invitational last fall "" and his next four races. He earned All-America honors in cross country and also had an excellent track season for Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Not bad for a kid who played table tennis in high school and didn't start running until he was 19.
Chelanga was featured at a running clinic Friday at Forrence Orchards in Peru along with Peru native Josh McDougal, Liberty University teammate Jarvis Jelen and other area runners. The clinic was put on by the organizers of the 17th Annual Run for Jon, which will be held Aug. 25 at the Orchards.
Chelanga, who is transferring to Liberty and will be a sophomore in the fall, became friends with McDougal while they competed against each other last year. McDougal brought him to the North Country to train before the start of cross-country season.
Despite having an older brother who is an accomplished marathoner "" Joshua Chelanga won the Rotterdam Marathon in April "" Sammy never thought he'd become a runner, too.
"At my school, they say you have to do a sport," said Chelanga, who stands at a slender 5 feet, 6 inches. "And I just figured out that the easiest sport is table tennis." He said he wasn't any good at it.
Finally, after high school, his brother chided him one day for not doing much and convinced Sammy to join him and his training partners "" who just happened to include legendary distance runner Paul Tergat.
Chelanga said the elite runners left him in the dust after a few strides, but he kept running with them and eventually noticed progress.
And one day he realized he was actually good at it.
"It was really like a turning point in your life," the softspoken Chelanga said. "You feel like, Wow, so I can run.'
"It became so exciting and I loved it, and I wanted to do it more and more. Because the more I did it, I realized I was getting better."
Tergat, who holds the world record in the marathon, helped Chelanga find a U.S. college to run for. He had immediate success at Fairleigh Dickinson, even though he had never run in any kind of race before showing up there last year.
He has impressed McDougal, who said he beat Chelanga three times last year, while Chelanga won twice.
"I mean, I've been racing for over half my life," McDougal said. "He walked out one day and started to run with the best runners in the world. After a few months, he started to be able to hang with them. Then he came over to the U.S. and raced amazing.
"He has a lot to learn about racing. I could tell even from the times he beat me, if this guy sticks with it and learns a lot more about running, then the sky's the limit. I think he's perhaps the most talented runner in the NCAA."
McDougal is pretty talented himself. An 11-time All-American entering his senior season, he's eying the 2008 Olympics. But that goal is in the back of his mind for now.
"It's back there, but the focus is going to be on the team," he said. "And just day by day, putting in the training. If I work hard and stay healthy, my fitness is going to be there. I'm just going to go out there and do my best and leave the results up to the Lord."
At Friday's clinic, McDougal stressed consistency in training and told the runners in attendance not to get too caught up in results.
Chelanga is waiting on a release to be able to race for Liberty this season. Otherwise, he'll be part of the team but will have to compete unattached until 2008-09.
Chelanga still has a resource other collegiate runners would be jealous of "" a group of world-class runners in Kenya who are always just a phone call away.
"I'm lucky, yes," he said with a smile. "If I need something regarding my running, I just call them, and they always help me. And they watch me run. They watch through the internet, so they know what's going on."
McDougal is looking forward to having Chelanga around.
"He trains with the best marathon group in the world," McDougal said. "He's great friends with perhaps one of the best runners to ever live "" if you were to mention Paul Tergat, there's only one, maybe two guys you can mention in the same breath.
"He trains with so many great runners, and he's such a great runner himself that it will be great just to be able to work out with him. We'll be able to push each other."
clewis@pressrepublican.com

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