Culture: Group Running

One simple thing that I've found over and over is the idea of never running alone.  This may stem from the very important communal culture of Kenya.  This approach corresponds to ideas of helping one another, mutual responsibility, etc.  Unlike the western "every man for himself" idea, the belief of "Harambee" or "pulling together" is and has been prevalent in every ethnic group in Kenya ("Kenya").  This also translates into family life, in which large families live close together, and families join together when people marry ("Kenya").
Similarly, Kenyan runners often join together to train.  In fact, most runners who are trying to become international athletes move somewhere where other runners live to train (Tanser).  As Richard Chelimo, a Kenyan medalist in the 1992 Olympics, says, "You cannot make it to international standard if you are training alone; you need the company of others to push you when you are tired," (Tanser).  Kenyan runners use this philosophy not only in training, but in racing as well.  There seem to be two parts to this: racing together, but also racing for each other.
In the World Cross Country Championships of 1994, the places of the top six Kenyan runners ranged from first to twelfth, while the places of the top six Ethiopian runners ranged from third to forty-third ("IAAF").  The Kenyan team won that year, while the Ethiopians got third ("IAAF").  The fact that they stick together helps them.
Yet also, instead of aiming for an individual win, they focus on the team.  Often, their race strategy is based on this.  For example, although Simeon Rono of Kenya thought that he could have placed in the top 5 in the 1995 World Cross Country Championships, he sacrificed his own race by going out too fast in order to help the team (Tanser).  Once again, the Kenyan team placed first in this race.  Kenyan runners focus on the team, and this seems to benefit them in the long run; as Simon Chemoiywo puts it, "when we live, struggle, and work together a victory by one of us is for all of us," (Tanser).
Although this may not seem completely relevant to why so many individual Kenyan runners are so successful, I think the difference in thought is interesting.  While many western professional runners train with an individual coach, by themselves, or perhaps with one other athlete, Kenyan runners often train in large training camps, in which the runs include 50 other world-class runners (Tanser).  There haven't been any studies that I know of about this, but I think the dominance of Kenyan runners must be related in some way to their strong team spirit. 

Group of about 200 runners training in Iten, Kenya