Matira

Matira is a centre(0.925086,35.557076) in Kapsowar division of the Marakwet District, Rift Valley Province, Kenya. there is also Matira primary school which has produced people like Michael Yator who is a DC and Kipruto Kimaiyo who is currently a student at Chuka university college Matira is situated at Kamok village it has a water project which was established at 2000 It is the birthplace of famous Kenyan steeplechase runner Ezekiel Kemboi.Thursday, 23 August 2007 Focus on Athletes - Ezekiel Kemboi Ezekiel Kemboi leads a Kenyan sweep in steeplechase (Getty Images)

Ezekiel Kemboi leads a Kenyan sweep in steeplechase (Getty Images) relnews

   Ezekiel Kemboi wins the 3000m Steeplechase at the Kenyan Trials
   Ezekiel Kemboi - Steeplechase gold - Melbourne 2006

Updated 23 August 2007

Ezekiel KEMBOI Cheboi, Kenya (3000m Steeplechase)

Born 25 May 1982, Matira, near Kapsowar, Marakwet District, Rift Valley Province, Kenya

Farmer, cultivating 50-acres near Moi's Bridge, Trans-Nzoia Dist, since 2002.

Married Jane Jepchumba of Iten 2002. Son Kiprono Manchester (2002).

Lives mainly in Matira. Trains at IAAF/IOC High Altitude Training Centre, Eldoret.

Manager: Enrico Dionisi; Coach: formerly Paul Ereng; now self-coached.

Native language: Marakwet (Kalenjin). Third of seven children. Father a farmer with 10 acres.

Completed Kapsowar Boys Secondary 1999.

Ezekiel Kemboi did not run in school. Extracurricular interests included football (midfielder), music (DJ at school parties), drama and debate. He started running on his own after leaving school, fixing on the Steeplechase in emulation of fellow Marakwet athletes Moses Kiptanui and William Mutwol.

In April 2001 Kemboi entered an open Athletics Kenya meeting in Kakamega and won Steeplechase in 8:56. "No strong guys were there," he says. He attracted the attention of IAAF/ IOC coach Paul Ereng, who invited him to train at the newly-created High Altitude Training Centre.

After another local win, Kemboi wrote to several European managers. Only Enrico Dionisi wrote back. Kemboi flew to Europe in late May 2001 and ran five races in two weeks, lowering his PB to 8:23.66, and returned to Kenya for trials for the African Junior Championships in Mauritius. Finishing 2nd to 2003 World Championships team-mate Mike Kipyego, he then won in Mauritius (8:39.80) in spite of falling.

In 2002 Kemboi ran the Steeplechase in two major championships: the Commonwealth Games, in Manchester, where he finished 2nd (8:19.78) to teammate Stephen Cherono, and the African Championships, where he was 4th (8:27.14) behind Brahim Boulami, Wilson Boit Kipketer and Cherono (later awarded bronze after Boulami received a doping suspension). He also competed in five European meetings, winning three—Strasbourg (8;20.95), Paris Golden League (8:10.11) and Brussels Golden League (8:06.65 PB), solidly confirming his potential after just two years' running.

In 2003, before the World Championships, in Paris, Kemboi ran 11 Steeplechases and won seven—including Kenya’s National Championships and the brutally competitive World Championships trials (8:12.55 at 1700 metres altitude). Each of the four races he lost were won by Saif Saeed Shaheen, his former teammate Stephen Cherono, the Commonwealth champion, renamed and running for Qatar. In the most telling of those four races, at the Zurich Golden League meeting, Kemboi lost by 0.01 second in a PB 8:02.49.

Going into the Paris final, Kemboi had never beaten Shaheen, the world's top-ranked steeplechaser for two years. But he was well aware that his former countryman's defection had not gone down well in Kenya, and he felt Kenyans would be looking to him to extend the country's string of six straight World Championship Steeplechase gold medals.

The race started strangely, with Shaheen and Qatari teammate Abdullah Saifeldin Khamis sprinting to a 50-metre lead from the gun, baffling the Kenyans. By mid-race, as Khamis began to fade, Kemboi sprinted after Shaheen and passed him in less than a lap. There followed the most extraordinary duel anyone can remember in a championship Steeplechase. The lead changed several times before Shaheen pulled away from the exhausted Kemboi to win by less than a second (8:04.39 to 8:05.11).

After disappointing showings at the Brussels Golden League meeting (8:12.87 for 5th) and the World Athletics Final (8:11.79 for 3rd), Kemboi closed his season with a gold medal at the All Africa Games in Abuja (8:12.27).

Until the Olympics, 2004 was a surprisingly low-key season for Kemboi. Apart from his decisive win at the Kenyan Olympic trials (8:16.5 at altitude), he won two other races (Lausanne and Paris) and finished 2nd twice to Shaheen (Ostrava and Zurich), with an undistinguished season’s best of 8:11.03. But Shaheen was not competing in Athens. The Kenyan Olympic Committee refused to waive the three-year eligibility delay for established athletes who switch nationalities, so the new Qatari was obliged to wait until Beijing for his Olympic debut.

Kemboi thus started as favourite, and the race went very much according to form, with the three Kenyans (plus another former countryman, Moses Kipchirchir, running for Qatar as Moussa Omar Obaid) pushing the pace from the second lap and soon leaving the rest of the field behind. Kemboi won gold (8:05.81, just 0.3 seconds shy of Julius Kariuki’s 16-year-old Olympic Record) in a Kenyan sweep.

He spent much the ensuing weeks being feted in Marakwet and returned to competition in the World Athletics Final, where Shaheen, who set a brilliant world record 7:53.63 shortly after the Olympics, took out his frustrations with a six-second win, in spite of Kemboi’s determined effort (8:02.98 SB).

2005 seemed like a replay of the previous two years—creditable performances in a few European GP races, a win in the Kenyan trials and another second to Shaheen in the Helsinki World Championships. 2006 brought the Commonwealth Games, another championship for which Shaheen wasn’t eligible, and Kemboi won with an undistinguished early-season performance (8:18.17). Seven races on the GP circuit yielded three wins, two more losses to Shaheen and a bunch of lackluster times (plus a DQ in the African Championships in Mauritius for improper hurdling).

In 2007, with another World Championship to consider, Kemboi has raced sparingly, but has shown good form when it counted, finishing 2nd to teammate Willy Komen in the All Africa Games in Algiers (8:16.93), but comfortably winning the Kenyan trial (8:17.52 at altitude) and recording his best time in three years (8:05.50) in winning the Athens GP.

In view of his superb record in global championships and the absence of the injured Shaheen, Kemboi must be rated the clear favorite in Osaka.

Yearly progression

2001 - 8:23.66; 2002 - 8:06.65; 2003 - 8:02.49; 2004 – 8:02.98; 2005 – 8:09.04; 2006 – 8:09.29; 2007 - 8:05.50.

Personal best

3,000m Steeplechase: 8:02.49 (2003)

Career highlights

2002 – 2nd, Commonwealth Games, Manchester 2003 – 2nd, World Championships, Paris 2003 – 1st, All Africa Games, Abuja 2004 – 1st, Olympic Games, Athens 2005 – 2nd, World Championships, Helsinki 2006 – 1st, Commonwealth Games, Melbourne Kamok has a population of abaut 1000 people Matira pri is headed by Francis Kurui .The board chairman is william Chepkiyeng matira pri has five teachers and astudent population of 300 .it is one of the prominent schools in marakwet district established 1960 .in2005 it had amean score of 304 . 2010 candidates are Teressa Jepkorir ,Allan KIplagat, pascaline Cherop ,pascoline KImaiyo ,Milicent Tanui, caroline chepkiyeng, gldys jerop , bernard yator ,titus kibet Boi chelanga ,Titus kimaiyo ,Titus maiyo ,Beatrice koech . 2004 candidates were Betty Cherop, Edwin Kitony KIpruto Kimaiyo , amos kostito