Iten

Iten is a town in Rift Valley Province of Kenya. It is located along the road between Eldoret and Kabarnet. Elgeyo escarpment and Kerio River are located east of Iten. The town has a population of 4000 .

It forms a common local authority (Iten/Tambach town council) with Tambach, a small town in the vicinity. Iten is the capital of the Keiyo District. Iten was also the headquarters of the former Elgeyo-Marakwet District since 1966, when it replaced Tambach as the headquarters.

The name of the town is corruption of Hill Ten, a local rock formation named by Joseph Thomson.

The mayor of Iten is Mary Ruto (as of 2009), one of the few female mayors in Kenya.

St. Patrick's High School is located in Iten. The school has, over the last 30 years, produced world-class long distance athletes and is preferred by many promising Kenyan runners. Some of the alumni include Ibrahim Hussein, winner of three Boston Marathons and one New York City Marathon; Peter Rono, a 1988 Olympic gold medalist at 1,500 meters; Wilson Boit Kipketer, a 1997 world champion and 2000 Olympic silver medalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

The town hosts the high altitude training centre, HATC , founded by Lornah Kiplagat.

References

External links

• http://web.archive.org/web/20070318110920/http://www.geocities.com/hatc99/where.htm
• http://www.lornah.com/

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