Hellen Chepngeno

Hellen Chepngeno (born August 2, 1967 in Kitopen, Bomet District) is a retired athlete from Kenya. In 1994 she became the first Kenyan woman to win individual category in the the World Cross Country Championships.

Later she suffered from injuries and was not able to repeat her earlier success IAAF, March 20, 2007: [http://www.iaaf.org/WXC07/news/Kind=2/newsId=38033.html "A Kenyan XC legend - Helen Chepngeno"] ] . She was still competing in 1999 [Daily Nation January 31, 1999: [http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/310199/Sports/Sports0.html "Koech wins Armed Forces title again"] ] .

During her running career, she was a corporal in the Kenya Prisons, which is famous for recruiting promising Kenyan athletes. Before starting running, she took High jump and javelin throw [ Daily Nation, February 05, 2007: "Chepngeno, Kenya’s unsung athletics heroine" [http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=5&newsid=91039] ] .

She keeps a five acre plot in Kitopen bought with her prize money. She is not married, but has two sons b] , one of them was four years old in 1994 [ International Herald Tribune, March 28, 1994: [http://www.iht.com/articles/1994/03/28/run_1.php "Shooting for the Moon, Kenyans Win All but 1 Cross Country Gold"] ] .

Achievements

References

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