More than 250 women participated in a 10-kilometer road race in March in Eldoret, Kenya, in honor of world record-holder Agnes Tirop, who was murdered in 2021.
Photographer: Nichole Sobecki/Bloomberg
A Runner’s Murder in Kenya Opens a Window Into Violence Against Women
Prize money and endorsement contracts from global sporting brands have flooded into Iten, a long-distance training center, fueling a wave of attacks.
The town of Iten, perched on an escarpment in western Kenya a mile and a half above sea level, holds an elevated place in the sports world as a training ground for elite long-distance runners. Olympians Lornah Kiplagat, Mary Keitany and Sylvia Kibet have all logged hours on the dirt roads that wind through the surrounding fields and forests. The world’s fastest marathoner, Eliud Kipchoge, is one of eight athletes trained in Iten who will be running in the Boston Marathon on April 17.
It was here, on a crisp morning in October 2021, that 26-year-old Agnes Tirop, who had recently set a world record in the women-only 10-kilometer road race, was found lying in a pool of blood in her modest bungalow. She had been struck on the head with a garden hoe and stabbed in the neck with a kitchen knife, according to evidence presented in court documents.