By ELIAS MAKORI, Joe Sang Foundation
A world-class field assembled for the 51st edition of the BMW Berlin Marathon on September
21 is headlined by Kenyans Sabastian Sawe and Rosemary Wanjiru who head deep start lists
with personal best times of 2:02:05 (two hours, two minutes and five seconds) and 2:16:14,
respectively.
Ten men on the start list have run sub 2:05:00 and six women dipped under 2:19:00.
Based on these figures the 2025 line-up is the best in the history of the BMW Berlin Marathon,
run on the flat Berlin course, which has seen a unique number of 13 world records during its 50-
year-history.
The organisers also pulled off an extraordinary coup with both Japanese record holders running
in Berlin: Kengo Suzuki who holds the national record with a time of 2:04:56 and Honami
Maeda, the fastest Japanese woman of all time with 2:18:59.
For around 25 years at least, no other organiser of a city marathon outside Japan has managed
to get the two Japanese record holders to compete in one race, reflecting the enormous
significance the Berlin Marathon has in Japan, a country where long distance running is hugely
popular.
Chasing his own records
Also in the field, chasing records of his own, is the “Running CEO” Joe Sang, Managing Director
of Kenya Pipeline Company.
While not on the elite list chasing world records or sub-2:03 times, Sang will be chasing a record
and dream of his own – to finish the marathon in under three hours and raise funds for the
education of needy children in Kenya.
The Berlin Marathon will be Sang’s second World Marathon Majors race after he conquered
last year’s Chicago Marathon in a personal best time of three hours and seven minutes on his
42km debut, all part of his fund-raising drive to boost the Joe Sang Foundation kitty that seeks
to support needy children get education.
In the half marathon, Sang – also an avid golfer – recently clocked a personal best one hour, 31
minutes and four seconds, running alongside training partner John Terer, Managing Director
and proprietor of motor sales company, Car City, at the Nairobi City Marathon.
Terer also supported Sang as his running mate at last year’s Chicago Marathon and has been a
key supporter of the Joe Sang Foundation through which Sang is seeking to raise funds to
benefit needy children, affording them a chance at education over the next few years.
Terer is among Sang’s “running mates” who battle through challenging courses around Ngong
and Karen each morning at 1,700 metres above sea level.
Others included Tony Lel, Emmanuel Cheruiyot and Silas Simatwo.
Sang’s personal journey has been nothing short of inspirational, having experienced a fairytale
rise from running barefoot to school at his home area of Kabianga, in Kericho County, to
becoming chief executive at one of Kenya’s leading parastatals.
“I grew up in Kabianga, in Kericho County, and back in the day, we used to run to school
barefoot early in the morning – four to five kilometres to school, back home for lunch, back to school and back home in the evening. That’s where I started my journey of life,” Sang reflects,
adding that it’s this experience that led him to forming the Joe Sang Foundation to help needy
children operate in conditions better than those he endured in Kabianga.
“The Joe Sang Foundation is now a registered Trust which we registered last year in October
and we have a Board of Trustees,” he explains.
The Board of Trustees is chaired by respected lawyer, Jinaro Kibet.
“It was borne out of a deep conviction out of my personal journey. I discovered the passion of
running some time back, running 10k, 21km, and last year I challenged myself, saying I want to
try something big, and I registered for the Chicago Marathon.
“I ran an amazing three hours and seven minutes at the October 13 Chicago Marathon, which
for me wasn’t about the running or medal, but the purpose of giving back to society through
the Joe Sang Foundation.
“The key principles of the Joe Sang Foundation are about giving back to society, especially
uplifting the underprivileged boys and girls from our villages. We are very happy to wake up
early and join in supporting the Joe Sang Foundation by training with Sang as he prepares for
the Berlin Marathon where he is aiming to run the marathon in under three hours,” Emmanuel
Cheruiyot, one of Sang’s training partners, remarks after pushing Sang to the end of a 30km run
in Karen one Saturday morning.
“Joe is a fighter! Watching him training and running alongside him in training, I’m confident that
he will break the three-hour barrier in Berlin and all for a good cause – giving a chance to needy
children to get good education,” another training mate, Silas Simatwo, adds.
How Endowment Fund will work
The purpose of the Joe Sang Foundation is to create an Endowment Fund to help the
underprivileged children across Kenya.
“We are targeting to raise Sh200 million, over two years, invest the money and then use
proceeds to educate the children. As they say, ‘charity begins at home’ and we are supporting
four students in my former primary and secondary school to go through high school by paying
school fees for them.
“Where I have reached as a CEO, it’s no longer about me. It’s about helping the next person, so
that the next person can be able to help their immediate families and their communities and, of
course our country, so that we can create a better place than we found it.”
So far, the Joe Sang Foundation has hit the Sh50 million mark in fund raising, cruising towards
the Sh200m target over the next two years.
“The way the Endowment Fund works is creating a Fund by investing the money, through the
able commitment, wisdom and advice from the Trustees, to invest the money and only use the
proceeds – because if you start using the capital, you end up depleting the money in the
fullness of time.
“We are looking for a sustainable model, and for us this is through the Endowment Fund which
has been received very, very well by many Kenyans and beyond who are coming on board and
helping in the course. They are seeing that a CEO can actually come out of his corner office and
invest time in this initiative is quite inspiring,” notes Sang who starts his morning runs at 4am,
making it to the office before 8am.
Some of the lessons learnt? “The marathon mirrors the journey of life,” Sang explains.
“You learn endurance, you learn discipline, and, most importantly, you learn resilience.
Resilience is about balance, knowing at what point to avoid burnout.
And like at the 35km mark in the marathon, the “iron wall”, there so many walls that our young
people are facing. It could be lack of school fees, it could be lack of food.
There are many walls that even leaders go through. It could be family issues, financial issues
and society pressure. In running, you become healthier, and a healthy person is a more
productive person. You get fresh thoughts and you give your best.”
Foundation launched in breakfast ceremony
“The students that we assist are extremely needy cases… we have an orphan, one from a single
mother, a family moved from Mau without a place to stay… They were identified by the school
as extremely needy children,” Sang explains.
The Joe Sang Foundation was launched at a colourful ceremony in Nairobi on August 29
attended by, among others, Cabinet Secretaries John Mbadi (Treasury) and Migos Ogamba
(Education) alongside a score of captains of industry.
Over Sh42 million was raised at the launch breakfast with Education Cabinet Secretary Ogamba,
whose docket is a direct beneficiary of the Joe Sang Foundation, expressing his delight at the
charitable initiative, himself having been a beneficiary of such acts of kindness while growing
up.
“I really identify with this initiative firstly because a head the educational sector that is suffering
from capitation problems and also because I’m a product of such initiatives. My parents only
paid fees in the first term of school before well-wishers stepped in to help. There we should all
show up and aid these initiatives for they go a long way in changing lives,” Ogamba remarked.
His counterpart, Treasury CS John Mbadi, equally lauded Sang for giving back to society and
promised to go back to his former school to give back, saying he was a beneficiary of charity in
high school.
“Joe, you are a wonderful man. It is very rare to turn passion into something big. Those of us
who know you learn from you the power of resilience. You have started a noble cause,” CS
Mbadi said.
“The person who paid my school fees, my elder brother, actually worked in tea farms, picking
tea to make me reach where I am today and so when I see such reminders, it demonstrates
how far people come,” the CS said in reference to the story of poor families that benefitted
from the Joe Sang Foundation charity.
The CS then offered his own story: “I’m a Seventh Day Adventist today because I remember
when I couldn’t pay my Form Four school fees, my father went to a pastor of the Seventh Day
Adventist Church who gave him Sh300, and I needed Sh285… the Sh15 balance was my fare to
school and that was the only time I boarded a matatu because I used to walk 54 kilometres to
school. That is how I became Seventh Day Adventist as it touched me as I saw a human heart in
the Pastor.”
A son’s pride, targets achieved
At the launch, Sang’s son, Tyler Belyon Sang, warmed the hearts of guests with a narration of
how crazy he thought of his father’s dream of raising funds through running a marathon.
“Running a marathon is like running from Nairobi to Thika. That’s crazy, I thought there were
easier ways do that when my father first shared his idea,” an eloquent Tyler said.
The Joe Sang Foundation has partnered with several corporations to help realise dreams of
underprivileged children in Kenya.
After the Joe Sang Foundation breakfast launch, the Foundation crossed the Sh50 million mark,
leaving Sang firmly on track to raise the Sh200 million he is targeting to achieve over the next
two years to cement the Endowment Fund.
This will also be achieved through partnerships with already established foundations such as
the Safaricom Foundation, KCB Foundation and Equity Foundation.
“We are learning from these foundations that have been there before us to be able to leverage
on such partnerships and support each other because the future of foundations today is about
collaborations and partnerships,” explains Sang.
The foundation further calls for support. Details on how donations can be made are available at the website – thejoesangfoundation.org.
