Running a full marathon is no mean feat. It is the ultimate test of endurance — punishing and pushing the body to the limit.
So you can imagine running the entire 42km barefoot. It is something even elite athletes would not dare. In fact, only one top athlete in an international competition is known to have tried: Ethiopia's legend Abebe Bikila during the 1960 Rome Olympic Games before winning another gold medal in 1964. The now departed legend was included last-minute in the Ethiopian squad to the Olympic Games and didn’t have the right shoes to compete, forcing him to run barefoot. He became the first African to win an Olympic medal in the distance.
So it is no surprise that when last month Craig Oulton ran the entire Lewa Marathon barefoot, many were amazed. Craig may not be a professional athlete, but he is something of a long-distance running veteran.
Unlike the iconic Abebe whose motivation was to bring glory to his nation, Craig's drive was to bring dignity to the lives of the less fortunate.
The 55-year-old general manager at Kisima flower farm in Timau, Meru County, is an ardent charity racer who has participated in 35 marathons to raise funds and support the community.
As we settle down for the interview in his office, Craig shows no sign that he is suffering from the after-effects of running barefoot in Kenya’s popular marathon in the wild.
This year’s Lewa Marathon was the seventh he was participating in and when he lined up at the starting line, he wanted to test himself to the limit.
Even though he has done previous races with shoes on, this time round he wanted to run a unique race. He did sub-five hours and ran all the way to the finish line without walking.
He was determined to complete his mission, but was nervous because he had never done this before.
“My training was extensive and I had prepared well mentally and physically because it was a tough challenge. I was going for the finish line and I was determined. I’m happy I managed to finish the race,” he says.
He says the Lewa Marathon course is tough and rocky with many thorns. The high temperatures make the sand hot and one has to keep running at a steady pace and effective style to avoid dropping out of the race.
“You have to choose a style of running barefoot. With the tough course, thorns are a challenge and one has to run using the front part of the feet. Occasionally, you are pricked by thorns but you can’t stop, you keep going” says Craig.
He reveals that after the 21km mark, the body gets tired and pain sets in. By the time one gets to the 35km mark, one is grinding their teeth due to the stinging pain.
“By 9am, the sandy soil in Lewa gets really hot. But because I had a mission, I had to continue running. It was joy when I saw the finish line. Running such a marathon is a self-achievement where you set what to do and make sure you get it,” says Craig.
Craig wakes up every day at 4am before going for his morning run that is typically between 10km and 15km. He extends to 25km on Saturdays. He usually takes a break on Mondays to rest and prepare for the new week.
Craig Oulton, General Manager of Kisima Flower Farm in Timau, Meru County, at the flower farm.
Photo credit: Pool
Craig started running routinely when he was 39. He was putting on some weight and wanted to keep fit and stay in shape. After some good training, he was ready for his first marathon, which was Lewa in 2008.
The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Northern Kenya is home to the annual marathon, organised in partnership with Safaricom and Tusk. Here, participants share space with several large African predators, including the lion, leopard, hyena and wild dog in the course of the marathon.
“When I started running, the challenge was to know the right diet. I just knew I wanted to run, which I did — but after the 42km race, I wasn’t able to walk for three days because of pains all over my body,” he says.
That forced him to do more research and read widely about running. By October the same year, he was ready for his next race, which was the Standard Chartered Marathon in Nairobi.
It was a hard marathon for him although it has a flat course. It is here that he met Wanjiku Waithaka from Sports for Change who was also running. Together with a group of other people, they helped him run all the way to the finish line.
Sports for Change is a Kenyan charity that sponsors education for orphans and other bright deserving students. It started in 2011 and has so far supported 100 students with direct sponsorship and 500 by supporting their schools on mentorships and buying books.
The organisation has changed the life of many helpless children whose parents could not afford to pay their school fees.
Craig thought that he would stop running after the pain from his first marathon. Interestingly, after one-week recovery, the body wanted to hit the road again and he found himself training for the next race.
His third race was Kilimanjaro Marathon in Tanzania and he enjoyed the course. This made him get into running seriously, finally participating in the Maasai Mara Marathon before heading down to South Africa.
In South Africa, he did his first ultra-marathon race, which was the Two Oceans Ultra-Marathon- 55km race. He did well and he was proud of conquering the tough race.
Back in Kenya, he did a lot of local marathons and after some time, started picking injuries.
Craig with Sports for Change Director Wanjiku Waithaka after they finished this year’s Lewa Marathon.
Photo credit: Pool
He was not yet done and after three years of running, he decided to attempt one of the toughest races: the 92-kilometres Comrades Marathon in South Africa, which he did in under 10 hours.
“This was the toughest race I have ever done and really enjoyed it because I was running three marathon races. It really inspired me and I have done it seven times to date,” says Craig.
He does three marathons in a year and that has forced him to do a lot of research. This is how he got to know about runners in Mexico who run barefoot as a culture and as one way of bonding. Marathon runners are very good friends, he says.
Craig later bought some canvas shoes and started training, but developed blisters. He had to research more and came to know about vibrant 52 flat shoes. However, he didn’t enjoy the feeling.
He started training running barefoot and the first experience was when he trained at Hells Gate in Naivasha. It was agonising and he advises that if you have to run barefoot, you have to keep checking yourself after one kilometre and always do it in stages.
Craig during this year’s Lewa Marathon.
Photo credit: Pool
Craig did more of barefoot training and started developing lower back and shoulder pains that would take long to go away. Barefoot is not just running without shoes, one has to really work hard for it and check their nutrition.
Trying to make sure he did the right thing while running barefoot, he read a book titled Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, which inspired him to continue with marathons.
While running in his second marathon (Standard Chartered Marathon), Craig was suffering at the 10km mark. Wanjiku realised that he was straining and asked him to join the group. That is when she talked to him about the Sports for Change as he enjoyed good company all the way to the finish line.
He took time to learn more about the organisation. At the time, the charity had just started and they were trying to raise money and he agreed to give a hand by talking to friends. Craig says it wasn’t easy.
“Nobody was willing to raise the funds unless you did something extraordinary. Someone would only donate if you did something that would be a challenge for them to do and I wanted to help this Kenyan charity,” he says.
He says the charity needs just a little amount that any Good Samaritan can offer and has potential to grow with support from well-wishers.
The past two years — especially in 2020 — he says athletes from Kenya endured hard times because they always depended on races abroad yet there were lockdowns across the world. “But there was the Covid-19 pandemic. It was tough for them because they couldn’t compete anywhere,” he says.
Born in Kiambu County, Craig is married to Debby Oulton and they are blessed with two children- Oliver Oulton, 24, a nutrition expert in the United Kingdom and Emily Oulton, 21, an artist based in Kenya.
Craig says when Covid-19 struck, it was not easy to retain all staff at his flower farm while not exporting anything for about one-and-half-months. But they worked hard to make sure no one was retrenched.
“The pandemic was tough and our lives almost stopped, literally. But we had to make sure that we retained our staff because they also had people who depended on them. We had to agree with shareholders to make sure they retained their job,” he says.
Craig left home at 16. His parents died while he was young . He landed his first job at 17 as a mechanic before he became a senior supervisor looking after cattle. In 1990, he got a job with Mt Elgon Orchards flower farm in Trans Nzoia as an assistant manager.
That’s when he entered into his career of growing flowers in Kenya, which he has done for the last 30 years and loves.
He has lived and worked in various places — including Laikipia, Kiambu, Athi River, Kericho, Naivasha and Nanyuki — due to the nature of his work.
He has been the general manager at Kisima Flower Farm for the last five years, managing a team of 450 workers, including eight members of the management team.
They grow rose flowers and sell them through auction in Holland. Their other market is in the Middle East.
