Eliud Kipchoge doesn’t just want to run fast anymore. He wants to take you with him, at least in mindset, if not in pace.
The two-time Olympic champion and first person to break the two-hour marathon barrier is launching a running app, Kotcha, developed with the NN Running Team.
Set to debut today (October 23) for iPhone users, the app aims to distill the philosophies, habits, and routines that have defined Kipchoge’s extraordinary career and global appeal.
But don’t expect a slick race tracker or leaderboard-chasing platform. This isn’t Strava with a Kenyan accent. Kotcha is starting with something much simpler: ugali.
Yes, ugali, the maize-flour staple of Kipchoge’s diet and a daily fixture at his training camp in Kaptagat, is the first feature users can access. The App Store listing teases a recipe for the carb-heavy Kenyan dish, signaling that Kotcha’s focus goes beyond splits and mileage.
The app, for now, doesn’t boast GPS integration or gamified training plans. Instead, it opens with a nod to how Kipchoge eats, and by extension, how he lives.
“In Kenya, we are very traditional with our food,” Kipchoge once told GQ. “You eat simple, train simple, and live simple. That’s how champions are made.”
It seems Kotcha is taking that ethos to heart, starting in the kitchen.
The rollout of the app comes just days before Kipchoge lines up for the 2025 New York City Marathon, the final piece in his pursuit of the Abbott World Marathon Majors Six Star Finisher medal. He’s already conquered Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, and Chicago, and now, at 40, he’ll take on New York for the first time.
Whether or not he wins might be beside the point. With Kotcha, Kipchoge is signaling a shift from athlete to mentor, looking to share his methods with everyday runners — those chasing PRs, not podiums.
That positioning may be Kotcha’s biggest strength. The app doesn’t seem interested in competing with platforms like Nike Run Club or Garmin Connect on metrics. Instead, it promises something more personal: a way to “train like me, run like yourself,” as Kipchoge wrote on Instagram earlier this week.
Still, questions remain.
What exactly will the app offer beyond recipes and philosophy? Will there be full training plans? Daily workouts? Will Android users be left out for long? And most importantly, can an app really capture what makes Kipchoge different, not just his running economy or VO2 max, but the quiet discipline and mental clarity that have become his trademarks?
For now, all we have is a name (Kotcha), a promise, and a pot of boiling water with maize flour.
But if there’s one athlete whose way of life runners around the world are curious to emulate, it’s Kipchoge. And if the app ends up feeling even a fraction as calm, consistent, and quietly intense as the man himself, it might just find a place in runners’ routines.
Just don’t be surprised if it asks you to wake up at 5 a.m.
