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A Champion Distance Runner’s Quest in Kenya | Run, Lornah, Run (full documentary) | FRONTLINE/World

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A Champion Distance Runner’s Quest in Kenya | Run, Lornah, Run (full documentary) | FRONTLINE/World

Uploaded: 2026-09-15

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How record-breaking distance runner Lornah Kiplagat helped other women in Kenya break social barriers and train to be professional runners. (Aired March 2004) This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Donate to FRONTLINE now: https://bit.ly/47DFzCb And support your local PBS station here: https://www.pbs.org/donate For decades, Kenyan men had ranked among the world’s best long distance runners — bringing home one Olympic medal after another and sweeping marathons from coast to coast in the U.S. Largely confined to traditional roles at home and on the farm, most Kenyan women had only watched from the sidelines. But when Lornah Kiplagat emerged from the highlands of northwest Kenya as one of the best female runners in the world in the late 1990s and early 2000s, she committed herself and her prize money to building what was then the first women’s running camp in the country. In “Kenya: Run, Lornah, Run,” FRONTLINE/World correspondents Alexis Bloom and Cassandra Herrman documented Kiplagat’s journey, met emerging female athletes at her unique camp, and learned about how they were breaking social expectations in a country that largely prescribed traditional, domestic roles for women. As Kiplagat noted in the documentary, “At the end, it’s not only about running. It’s a way of changing the whole lifestyle of women in Kenya.” In the two decades since “Run, Lornah, Run” aired, Kiplagat’s camp, the High Altitude Training Center, has become a destination for elite runners — both female and male — from around the world. Kiplagat, now a citizen of the Netherlands, continues to support young women in Kenya through programming at the center and through her eponymous foundation. “Kenya: Run, Lornah, Run” was produced and reported by Alexis Bloom and Cassandra Herrman. The founder and executive producer of FRONTLINE was David Fanning. We are making episodes from FRONTLINE/World’s archive newly available here on YouTube and on pbs.org as part of an effort to make our past reporting widely accessible. Originally developed by FRONTLINE producers in conjunction with public television stations KQED San Francisco and WGBH Boston, FRONTLINE/World launched in 2002 as a national public TV series that turned its lens on the global community, covering countries and cultures rarely seen on American television. The series completed its final broadcast season in 2010. Explore more about FRONTLINE/World and this film on the legacy website for the series: https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/ #Documentary #Kenya #Running Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PBSfrontline Sign up for our newsletter: https://frontline.org/newsletter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontlinepbs Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frontline Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/frontlinepbs.bsky.social FRONTLINE/World was a production of GBH in Boston. The executive producer was David Fanning. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and airs nationwide on PBS. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with major support from Ford Foundation, and Fialkow Family Foundation. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Trust, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and Corey David Sauer, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Inside a Camp for Emerging Women Runners in Kenya 02:13 - How Distance Runner Lornah Kiplagat Broke Social Barriers 05:01 - Kenyan Runner Nancy Kiprop’s Story 09:14 - Credits

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Source: PBS Frontline

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description: How record-breaking distance runner Lornah Kiplagat helped other women in Kenya break social barriers and train to be professional runners. (Aired March 2004) This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Donate to FRONTLINE now: https://bit.ly/47DFzCb And support your local PBS station here: https://www.pbs.org/donate For decades, Kenyan men had ranked among the world’s best long distance runners — bringing home one Olympic medal after another and sweeping marathons from coast to coast in the U.S. Largely confined to traditional roles at home and on the farm, most Kenyan women had only watched from the sidelines. But when Lornah Kiplagat emerged from the highlands of northwest Kenya as one of the best female runners in the world in the late 1990s and early 2000s, she committed herself and her prize money to building what was then the first women’s running camp in the country. In “Kenya: Run, Lornah, Run,” FRONTLINE/World correspondents Alexis Bloom and Cassandra Herrman documented Kiplagat’s journey, met emerging female athletes at her unique camp, and learned about how they were breaking social expectations in a country that largely prescribed traditional, domestic roles for women. As Kiplagat noted in the documentary, “At the end, it’s not only about running. It’s a way of changing the whole lifestyle of women in Kenya.” In the two decades since “Run, Lornah, Run” aired, Kiplagat’s camp, the High Altitude Training Center, has become a destination for elite runners — both female and male — from around the world. Kiplagat, now a citizen of the Netherlands, continues to support young women in Kenya through programming at the center and through her eponymous foundation. “Kenya: Run, Lornah, Run” was produced and reported by Alexis Bloom and Cassandra Herrman. The founder and executive producer of FRONTLINE was David Fanning. We are making episodes from FRONTLINE/World’s archive newly available here on YouTube and on pbs.org as part of an effort to make our past reporting widely accessible. Originally developed by FRONTLINE producers in conjunction with public television stations KQED San Francisco and WGBH Boston, FRONTLINE/World launched in 2002 as a national public TV series that turned its lens on the global community, covering countries and cultures rarely seen on American television. The series completed its final broadcast season in 2010. Explore more about FRONTLINE/World and this film on the legacy website for the series: https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/ #Documentary #Kenya #Running Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PBSfrontline Sign up for our newsletter: https://frontline.org/newsletter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontlinepbs Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frontline Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/frontlinepbs.bsky.social FRONTLINE/World was a production of GBH in Boston. The executive producer was David Fanning. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and airs nationwide on PBS. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with major support from Ford Foundation, and Fialkow Family Foundation. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Trust, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and Corey David Sauer, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Inside a Camp for Emerging Women Runners in Kenya 02:13 - How Distance Runner Lornah Kiplagat Broke Social Barriers 05:01 - Kenyan Runner Nancy Kiprop’s Story 09:14 - Credits
title: A Champion Distance Runner’s Quest in Kenya | Run, Lornah, Run (full documentary) | FRONTLINE/World
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A Champion Distance Runner’s Quest in Kenya | Run, Lornah, Run (full documentary) | FRONTLINE/World

Raw Attributes