Sally Kaptich Chepyego

Sally Chepyego Kaptich (Japanese: シェリー・チェピエゴ; born 3 October 1985) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes mainly in track and road running events.

She established herself at the World Youth Championships in Athletics in 2001, winning the 3000 metres title. She moved to Japan several years later to compete for the Kyudenko running team. She has won several corporate track running titles for the team.

Chepyego has twice represented Kenya as a senior athlete: first at the 2006 International Chiba Ekiden, where she broke an African record, and then at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, where she placed seventh in the 10,000 metres.

Born near Keiyo District in Kenya's Rift Valley Province, Chepyego's first success came at the 2001 World Youth Championships in Athletics where, running barefoot, she held off Ethiopia's Mestewat Tufa to win the gold medal in the 3000 metres. She competed only at local competitions for the next few years and was the 2004 Rift Valley High Schools champion. At age nineteen, she placed third at the North Rift Valley championships.

In 2006 she emigrated to Japan to take up professional running. She gained her first international selection soon after for the International Chiba Ekiden. Running in a team of Philes Ongori, Evelyne Kemunto Kimwei, Catherine Ndereba, Jane Wanjiku Gakunyi and Lucy Wangui Kabuu, she won the race and helped break the African record for the marathon ekiden distance. The following year she competed on the Japanese track circuit and won the Miyazaki 5K run. She did not compete in 2008 and changed location for the 2009 season, entering a series of road races in Europe. Her best performances were a win at the Würzburg half marathon, third at the Kö-Lauf in a personal best 33:41 minutes, and a fourth-place finish at the Hamburg Half Marathon in another best of 75:27 minutes.

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