This book, the first to examine the evolution of a single sport in an African country, asks how significant Kenya is in the sports world, and traces the development of Kenyan running from its pre-colonial roots to today's international sport.

African Affairs- "An excellent monograph on the phenomenal success of Kenyan middle distance running which will be of interest to a wide readership including everyone with a serious interest in athletics from all over the world, scholars with a specialist interest in socio-cultural studies of sport and specialists in African Studies. Provides an exemplar for future scholarly work in comparative studies of sport and studies of the sports globalisation process." "...lavishly illustrated book..." The Geographical Journal" International Review for Sociology of Sport- " The book is an excellent example of the virtues of a multidisplinary approach to the cultural and social study of sport...an excellent study" The Sports Historian- "An excellent account of the emergence and development of Kenyan athletics. This carefully crafted text demonstrates, time and again, the socio-cultural determinants of sporting success...the authors provide a series of astutue historical geographical insights...This is a book that can rightfully claim to be both imaginative and path-breaking