Four Kenyan female runners have been murdered in three years.
Sunday night, the final new E60 episode of 2026 examines the growing and disturbing threat of gender-based violence against female runners in Kenya and the chilling reality these women face: The more they win, the bigger their risk.
Heading into Sunday’s New York City Marathon, Kenyan women had won seven consecutive editions of the iconic road race.
“Still They Run” debuts at 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, streaming afterward on the ESPN App.
The one-hour documentary, a collaboration between E60 and the ESPN Investigative and Enterprise Unit, was reported by ESPN Global Correspondent and Sr. Writer Sam Borden and directed by Feature Producer Lyndsey Armacost and Juanita Ceballos.
Borden, who also wrote a companion piece for ESPN.com, takes us behind the scenes.
Winning puts women runners in Kenya at risk.” (ESPN)
You and the team did a lot of work in a country you didn’t know well – what were some of the challenges you encountered?
Working in Kenya was certainly challenging, and it was mandated that we have security with us as we traveled. We covered a ton of distance — from Nairobi up to Iten, on to Endebess, near the Uganda border and back down to Nyahururu.
All told, we probably traveled more than 500 miles in our van, much of it on unpaved or unlighted roads. We also were working in some incredibly rural and undeveloped areas, talking with people who live in very challenging conditions. Seeing and hearing about what their daily lives are like made our reporting challenges feel minor by comparison.
How difficult was it to get the athletes to talk as openly as they do?
Initiating conversations about abuse wasn’t as difficult as one might imagine, largely because so many female runners in Kenya have similar experiences.
There’s a collective frustration — and, sadly, resignation — about what women have to endure, so talking about the realities was something that many women we spoke with were open to doing. Obviously once the conversation began, though, it really varied from person to person as to how comfortable they were with sharing details.
What do you hope viewers and readers take away from this story?
Many sports fans know little about Kenyan runners other than that they win lots of distance running races. Our primary motivation with this project is to shine light on the harsher reality that lies beneath: Winning puts women runners in Kenya at risk. By exploring and understanding those risks, our audience will hopefully see how remarkable it is that — even faced with those dangers — so many women choose to run anyway.
NYC Marathon coverage | Journalism Showcase: Personal path to The Endless Race
