A rabbit is an animal that is known for its being pacey, playful, and witty.
Growing up, most people were told stories about these chucklesome animals. Others read interesting books about rabbits at home or during their earlier school days.
However, in athletics, particularly during road races, a rabbit has an entirely different name.
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In running, a rabbit is a person or a group of individuals who set the pace for other runners in a race.
These people sacrifice their performance to help others set records or win races.
Rabbits in athletics make running more honest and faster as well as encourage competitors to give their best during races.
Rabbits have guided many athletes to set new marks, especially in long-distance races in different corners of the globe.
Martin Keino, the son of the legendary Kenyan runner Kipchoge Keino is one of the most successful rabbits in the rich history of athletics.
Some of the athletes Keino paced to world records before hanging his running boots include famed Ethiopian middle distance runner Kenenisa Bekele and Daniel Kipngetich Komen.
In a recent interview, Komen revealed that he never had ambitions of becoming a rabbit.
“I didn’t choose to be a pacemaker. I wanted to achieve my dreams as a top 1,500m runner.
“But one of my colleagues, Daniel Komen, who we shared a manager with, wanted to break a world record, and so the manager asked me if I’d help him with the pacemaking for his attempt at breaking the world record.
“I became a man in demand for the job. It was quite an accident,” the athlete who turned into a businessman after retiring told Citizen Digital.
Although pace setters can be allowed to run the race to the end and receive the prize money if they win, most of them usually drop out once they are done with their pacing job.
This was not the case for Kenyan rabbit Samuel Mailu, who shocked the world at the 2022 Frankfurt Marathon staged on Sunday, October 30, in Germany.
Mailu did not pull out of the race as it was expected, he soldiered on and won the race in a personal best time of 02:07.19 ahead of fellow countryman Brimin Kipruto Misoi and earned the prize money for his heroic displays.
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