INEOS have launched a cycling academy in Kenya in honour of Kipchoge – Kenya Broadcasting Corporation

The INEOS in collaboration with multiple Grand-Tour-winning cycling team, Ineos Grenadiers have launched a cycling academy at Kaptagat in Elgeyo Marakwet County in honour of double Olympic champion and marathon world-record holder Eliud Kipchoge.

Ineos, the chemicals giant whose boss Jim Ratcliffe is worth an estimated £13.5 bn and stepped in to replace Sky as sponsor of the British team in 2019 aims at developing sporting talent in Africa.

Ineos counts the Kenyan long-distance runner Kipchoge amongst its sponsored athletes. The 37-year-old became the first person in record history to run a sub-2-hour marathon, which was called the Ineos 1:59 challenge.

I’m proud that we are expanding our Kaptagat based training camp from a purely athletics focussed training camp towards a wider kind of sports academy. The INEOS Eliud Kipchoge Cycling Academy is a very natural fit with great potential! pic.twitter.com/jOKYXyU1ws

— Eliud Kipchoge – EGH🇰🇪 (@EliudKipchoge) June 22, 2022

Kipchoge said that he was glad that the camp was expanding and venturing into a new sport that will enable young talented cyclists move to the next level.

“I’m proud that we are expanding our training camp from a purely athletics focused training camp towards a wider kind of sports academy. The Ineos Eliud Kipchoge Cycling Academy is a very natural fit with great potential to enable our young talented cyclists to make the next steps towards the top level of cycling,” said the two-time Olympics marathon champion.

Ineos Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe on his part said “There is such exciting sporting talent, passion and ambition in Africa and at Ineos we want to continue to invest to help realise its maximum potential,I visited the Kaptagat facility in Kenya recently and came away convinced that this partnership can do something truly different and unique for cycling – as well as for aspiring young African athletes.”

The INEOS Eliud Kipchoge Cycling Academy will be headed up by Valentijn Trouw and the wider Kaptagat team. Trouw has over 30 years’ experience in identifying and nurturing long distance running talent in Kenya, creating a pathway for some of the greatest distance runners ever to compete on the world stage.

It is the ambition of this project to utilise this knowledge, combined with that of the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team, to create a world-class, sustainable academy in Kenya.

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