Coming off a second place at the 2025 Broken Arrow Skyrace Ascent and getting ready for Sunday’s 23k race, Kenya’s Joyce Njeru is off to a good start for her weekend. In this interview, our first with Joyce, she talks about her path into mountain running, her goals for both the Ascent and the 23k this weekend, and how she had a slower start to the season but is starting to feel good.
To see more about how the Ascent race unfolded, check out our 2025 Broken Arrow Ascent results article. For more on who’s racing the 23k on Sunday, check out our in-depth 23k preview and follow our live race coverage on race day.
[Editor’s Note: If you are unable to see the video above, click here to access it.]
Joyce Njeru Post-2025 Broken Arrow Skyrace Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar. I’m with Joyce Njeru. It’s the day of the Broken Arrow Ascent, and it’s a couple days before the Broken Arrow 23k. You’re the women’s second-place finisher at the ascent today. Congratulations, hongera sana.
Joyce Njeru: Thank you, asante.
iRunFar: Let’s start with today’s race. That was a short and fast race, just three and a half kilometers, 600 meters of ascent. How was today’s race for you?
Njeru: I can say it was fantastic, it was good. Actually, I’m not good in the ascents, but I try to fix my breathing and to bring things together and try to… Maybe for the body to respond. It’s always nice for me to do it, because to prepare for the classic, or the race on Sunday. I can say I’ve done it, my best. I always give it to my best and, yes, I got good results and a positive thing, and I’m happy about it.
iRunFar: Right now, it’s very windy. They shortened the course for the wind. How was the wind up on the ridgeline today?
Njeru: It was so strong.
iRunFar: Was it?
Njeru: Yeah, it was. Actually, I can say the last meters, I could feel it and my nose was burning, but I had to cope with everything and finish. Yeah, it was okay, but I was happy they cut the rest and it was 3.4. Yes, for me, I can say it was an advantage for me. Yeah, it was good. Yep.
iRunFar: This is iRunFar’s first interview with you, so I’d love to learn a little bit about you. Obviously, you’re Kenyan. We spoke off camera, you come from just outside of Nairobi. About an hour’s drive?
Njeru: Yes. About the trail, in Kenya, it’s now becoming more popular, because now we have got some series races to choose the team for the [Trail and Mountain Running] World Championships, and also to bring the other athletes to the trail and show them it’s a race like the others. Maybe to have them to bring them in and to have these in mind. You can compete as well in a trail and also do well in the cross country and the road races. I think it’s doing well and, also, for the media team. Now, it’s doing quite well to have people using it and to run more. Yes, I’m happy about it. Yeah.
iRunFar: When I think of you… Let’s start with, Kenyan runners very famously have been competing in road running and track and cross country for a long time, but when I think of mountain runners, I think of you as one of the first Kenyans to truly embrace and focus on mountain running. Is this your seventh season of mountain running?
Njeru: Yes. I can say I started it in 2017, that’s why I was introduced to the World Mountain Running Association World Cup, so I did it in 2018, as well 2021. I had a break of two years. I can say it’s the seventh. Last year, it was a great year for me and it was an amazing one, I can say, in my life and trying to… I achieved as I wanted it and now trying to be persistent and also to be in the trail for as long as I can. I’ve shown the best of my side and now it’s trying to show the best things in me and to be there and do it perfectly. Also to be for the longest time, I can say. Being also a woman and a trail runner, one of the most… I can say a good trail runner, I can say, it’s also…
I used to perform and to show Kenyans that also competing in the trails, it can also make your future and you can also achieve much and be a successful athlete like the others. Now there is some groups and teams and clubs trying to bring the other athletes and showing them it’s also the trail, it’s also like the races, like the others. This one it really makes me and pushes me to race more and also to… If there are more races, technical or not, and big races and try to show them, “This is the way, and you can also achieve much in life as long as you get a focus and have that dream or goal.” Just to be patient and also to be persistent.
iRunFar: I love that word, persistence. That’s perfect for trail running.
Njeru: Yeah.
iRunFar: Let’s talk about this year of racing. Obviously, you’ve been mountain running for years. You had very good performances last year at the Mountain Running World Cup and Golden Trail World Series. You said off camera you’re planning to compete in both series, but also, this is a Mountain Running World Championships year too, so those races are on the horizon. Talk to me about how this race this weekend fits in your full year of running.
Njeru: Well, I can say now, officially, I started last year, I got into the Golden Trail Series, I’ve been doing the World Cup for a long time and this one has been… I can say it has been good preparation for me to get to another step, because you can’t stay on the same step, so you have to experience more, and it has been good. Now being a year for the World Championships, last time, I got the bronze medal for the classic, and it was good. Now focusing on silver or gold, and I hope I can achieve one of those. Also, for the 23k on Sunday, it will be a good test for me to see how my shape is and my body’s responding, because I have not been having… It was a difficult time for me, the last season. When I started the season, the body was not responding. I was in that moment, and I can say it was a difficult time for me. I tried to cope with everything and I can say it’s a challenge, and this is a running lesson for each and every athlete.
Yes, I can say now I’m ready and, yes, I can say I coped with it and now I know how to be a champion. When things are not getting better, how to try to bring things back together.
iRunFar: To summarize that, you said the start of your season, you started a little bit difficult, you weren’t feeling quite yourself, but now you feel like your body is coping?
Njeru: Yes, because I have competed some few races and they have been good.
iRunFar: You feel it coming?
Njeru: Yes, now I am confident with myself. Yes, I am ready to compete physically, mentally, emotionally. Yeah, I’m quite ready.
iRunFar: It must be confidence-building, to have the second place today going into Sunday’s race, that you’re building, building, building.
Njeru: Yes. I’m building and building, and I will get there. Yes.
iRunFar: The ultimate goal for the year, though, is the World Championships, yes?
Njeru: Yes. The big goal, World championships.
iRunFar: Okay.
Njeru: Yes.
iRunFar: Well, let’s start with Broken Arrow this weekend. Best of luck to you at the 23k on Sunday and congratulations on your second place today.
Njeru: Thank you so much and my big fans, thank you for supporting me. Yes, see you.
iRunFar: Okay, asanta sana.
Njeru: Karibu, bye bye.
