It is rarely that success of an athlete inspires siblings to take up the sport as many brothers and sisters live in comfort zones of the economic gains of their star relative.

Some successful athletes who are philanthropic, do not mind sharing their economic gains with close family members and hence the relatives see no reason to run.

Daniel Komen who has held world 3000 metres record of 7:20.67 since 1996 once said that children of successful athletes rarely take up running, “because when they were born they found a vehicle to take them to school every morning unlike their parents who honed their running skills by running barefoot to and from school every day.”

The same can be said about siblings of a successful runner. They see no reason of running as long as their athlete relative is ensuring their financial well being is taken care of.

The case seems different for Bedan Karoki who has silver medals from World Half and World Cross Country championships.

Karoki has also won many races around the globe and finished in the money bracket in key races including the prestigious London Marathon.

His success has inspired two of his brothers to take up running and they have been showing glimpses of brilliance in local competitions in which they have been featuring in. 

Karoki who is the oldest has three brothers and three sisters. He said none of the sisters has shown interest in athletics.

The third born, John Mwangi who is a member of the National Police Service and Daniel Nderitu, who is fifth born, have taken athletics seriously and usually join their successful brother for training sessions at the Nyahururu stadium to sharpen their skills, whenever he is at home for holiday from his Japan base.

“I regularly tell them that in athletics there is no short cut and hard work pays,” Karoki told the People Sport recently.

Karoki believes that the young Nderitu has the potential to become a world beater if he concentrates and consistently focuses on training.

Just like their brother, Mwangi and Nderitu are long distance runners, specializing in 5000 metres.

Mwangi dreams of breaking into the lucrative Europe athletics market while Nderitu dreams big on following in his big brother’s footsteps into the Japanese market.

“I want to run like my brother (Karoki) and even do better than him,” Nderitu said of his future dream in the sport.

At the second national track and field meeting in Nairobi, Nderitu ran in the third heat finishing 5th in 14:33 which gave him an overall ranking of 29th position.

Mwangi ran in the fourth heat finishing third in 14:10 thus being ranked 16th overall.