NELSON Ndereva’s book Why I Love Running narrates the art of name swapping, runners poaching and deceit in Kenyan Athletics…https://a.co/d/76cfZsV

That year Eastern provincial cross-country championship was in Machakos town. We arrived the night before and stayed with Charles in the same hotel room. We warmed up as team and lined up for the race. It was twelve-kilometer race running from Kenyatta stadium crossing through the shops and up the toward Machakos hills and diverting toward the residential area that read down the valley. With minimal markings on the route, there was a marksman at every intersection who would direct us which way to follow.
  At eight kilometers mark Embu team was leading with a huge gap. Charles was running next to me in a pack of five athletes excelling well.  The marks man pointed to us the wrong route which we followed down to the stream coming to a stop at the water. We found ourself convincingly crossing the stream a continuing running. We couldn’t find the route back to the stadium. We stopped and walked, talking to villagers seeking the way back to the stadium.
 As we jogged back to the stadium, we were amazed to see every one seated and awards ceremonies was underway; about ten of us, eight runners from Embu and two others from Kitui were intentionally re-routed to the wrong direction.  They had already named the team to present the province. With protest…https://a.co/d/76cfZsV